ANBU Team 15, mission 94: Hogwarts
by NightFury808
Summary: Hyuuga Aeri, along with the rest of ANBU 15, go to Hogwarts as extra protection against Akatsuki and Voldemort during the Triwizard Tournament. GaaOc. T for mild language. Set at beginning of Shippuden, and GOF.
1. Witches, Wizards, and Magic

**Hi, XxSenritsuNoTenshixX here. The plot bunneh wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote this. This is my first Naruto story ever, and it is also my first X-over ever. SO, the characters are probably going to be OOC, and the writing quality might suck. Rated M for a ninja's flavorful language. Oh, and for purposes, I think the 5-tailed is the Gobi no Houkou. I know that is most likely wrong, but this is fan**_**fiction.**_** I can do whatever the heck I want, including making everyone an ANBU even before Shippuden. :) Call me CRAAAAZY.**

**STUFF HAPPENING/NOT HAPPENING –**

**Everyone's a ANBU**

**Gobi no Houkou**

**Hinata's confession of love**

**I will add more as I see them. I will be following the HP plot more. Oh, and this is set in GOF.**

**Bold stuff is Japanese**

Normal stuff is English.

**SO, I am calling this story…**

ANBU team 15, mission 94: Hogwarts

Hello. My name is Hyuuga, Aeri. I'm a lot of things: daughter to the branch house of Hyuugas, 2nd best after my brother Neji, Naruto's and Gaara's best friend, master of Byakugan and many of it's techniques, leader or ANBU team 15, and the host of the Bijuu, Gobi no Houkou.

The last thing, I'm not so proud of.

I was born to the branch house with the same features as Neji or Hinata – the pupil-less lavender eyes, the dark hair, etc. I started training from a very young age; even then I exhibited signs of becoming a master. But then, of course, something took a turn for the worse in my life.

Sound Ninja spies captured me when I was 3, right before my forehead was branded. Orochimaru, that bastard, put the Gobi no Houkou inside of me. I was kept hostage and was experimented on for six years. It went on until I was 9. At that point, I used newfound powers to break out of the hellhole I was being kept in.

I have no idea how I survived the 6 months after that, but I somehow wound up at the Sunagakure gates. There the Kazekage, who soon learned about my status as a Jinchuuriki, took me in. I was introduced to Gaara of the Desert, who also had a Bijuu inside of him, Ichibi no Shukaku. We immediately struck up a friendship. I knew exactly how he felt about having a monster inside him.

Two years later, a group from Konoha came to Suna and recognized me as Hyuuga Aeri. (I had long forgotten my name during my imprisonment). They immediately tried to take me back.

They _tried _to take me.

In my anger, I accidentally let loose the Gobi, and destroyed pretty much every item within a 50 meter radius, excluding Gaara and the Ninja.

After I saw how much damage I had done, I gave in. Before I left, Gaara made me a sand necklace in the form of a wolf to remember my life in Sunagakure. I NEVER take it off.

So, I was transferred back, met Naruto, became his close friend, trained like hell, made my way up to ANBU at age 14, and became leader. I have been to Suna a couple of times, only to see that Gaara has become Kazekage. Temari and Kankuro are ANBU, and they often come from Suna to help on missions.

A hell of a past, right?

I haven't used the Gobi in 2 years, and I don't plan on using it in the near future.

So, where was I…? Oh, right, Shizune had just called us for a mission. I wondered what it was…

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

At the moment, ANBU team 15 was impatiently waiting in Tsunade-sama's office.

Oh, ANBU: 15 consists of:

Team 7 – Sakura (Leopard), Naruto (Fox), and Me (Wolf).

Team 8 – Kiba (Dog), Shino (Spider), and Hinata (Dove).

Team 10 – Chouji (Bull), Ino (Jaguar), and Shikamaru (Deer).

Team Guy – Neji (Cat), Lee (Mantis), and Tenten (Dragon).

With the Suna add-ons (Temari (Eagle), Kankuro (Panther), and Gaara—whenever he could make it), we would make up ANBU 15. It was a pretty big team, I know. Fifteen people. It was ANBU _15_ after all. But, at the time, Lee and Tenten were out injured in the hospital. Gaara couldn't make it, as he was Kazekage, so we were now ANBU 15-minus-3.

"GAH!" Naruto yelled. "WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?"

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded, bopping him on the head. "Shut up and calm down. They'll be here soon."

No sooner did those words leave her mouth, there was a strong gust of wind through Tsunade's office, and Temari and Kankuro were standing in the room.

"THERE YOU GUYS ARE!" Naruto screamed, waving his arms about. "WHAT THE HELL T-"

"I DON'T want to hear it," Temari sighed, casually whacking Naruto on the head.

"Well, now that we're all here, let me brief you on your mission," Tsunade said. We all nodded.

"Have you ever heard of the terms 'witches', 'wizards', or 'magic'?"

Neji and Sakura nodded. "But, they are legends, stories, fictional things," Sakura said, laughing nervously.

"Apparently not," Tsunade sighed. "I have recently received a bird belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, saying that he is a wizard of high power, and he would like some ninja to guard his castle, called 'Hogwarts', during this event called the 'Triwizard Tournament'."

"Man," I whispered to Hinata. "I would hate to have that kind of a name. Imagine writing that everyday on homework scrolls!"

"But Tsunade-sama," Sakura argued. "Witches and Wizards are just legend! They don't exist!"

"Just the same to them – we apparently don't exist to them either." Tsunade stated.

"I'm sure you don't believe me, so he should be coming soon to introduce himself, give his standards, and take you to Hogwarts."

Just then, there was a small pop, and an old dude with long, and I mean long, white hair and beard, appeared out of no where, wearing what seemed to be long, blue pajamas.

"Whoa! Why is this Ojii-san wearing pajamas?" Naruto burst out.

"These, my young ninja, are not pajamas, but wizard robes," the dude said calmly. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

No one said anything for a while.

"Prove it."

Dumbledore looked calmly at Shikamaru. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged, "We don't believe you. Prove you're a so-called 'wizard'."

He smiled, "As you wish."

He drew out a small stick, and waved it around.

Nothing happened.

We all started to snicker. Everyone except Naruto.

He couldn't talk.

Naruto had a look that could murder, and he tried desperately to say anything, to no avail. Dumbledore smiled and waved his wand again, giving Naruto the ability to speak again.

He glared at the smiling old man, "What. The. Fu-"

"Naruto!" I scolded, whacking him on the head, "Don't blame the wizard."

"But, but he-"

"I DO NOT want to hear it!"

"Dumbledore, would you let me talk to my team for a second?" Tsunade cut it.

Dumbledore nodded, exiting the room.

"Ok team, listen up," Tsunade barked, "Sources are saying Orochimaru and Akatsuki have joined up with a very powerful…wizard. He's called Voldemort, and he is a wizard of dark magic."

"Great," I growled, "Orochimaru and Akatsuki separately was enough. Now, we put 'em together along with another powerful source we don't even know?"

"This is also a body guard assignment. You will need to protect a boy named Harry Potter. I want you to wear your armor and masks for the first month. Use your codenames. If you feel you can trust them after that month, you can go back to wearing your regular clothes. Always stay armed, and make sure a group of at least four is always on guard. This is a yearlong mission. Do you accept?"

"Yes," we all said one by one

"Good. Go home, get any weapons you own, and bring only small possessions and your regular clothes. You have half an hour. Dismissed!"

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

At home, I changed into my silver ANBU armor and threw my regular ninja outfit into a small backpack, along with most of my weapons; kunai, exploding tags, scrolls, anything I could get my hands on.

As for my keepsake, I brought 2 small pictures – one of Gaara and I as kids, and one of the whole ANBU team 15.

With that, I put my wolf mask on, slung my backpack over my shoulder and returned to Tsunade's office.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

"Hello Wolf," Fox (Naruto) greeted me when I appeared in Tsunade's office. It was still amazing how Naruto, the crazy, hyperactive, kick-ass ninja could pull off the emotionless mask an ANBU was supposed to have.

I nodded in acknowledgement as the rest of team 15 came into the room.

"Ah, I see we are all here," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"Does he always smile?" I whispered to Jaguar (Ino). She just shrugged.

"There is one last matter," he said, "You speak your native language, Japanese, here. At Hogwarts, we speak English. I will need to place a translating charm on something you will be wearing or holding at all times."

We all nodded and pulled out something that we would be wearing. Almost everyone used his or her headband, but me.

When Dumbledore motioned for me to come up, I pulled out my necklace from Gaara, the wolf made of sand. After he charmed it, I put it back on.

"That's from Gaara, isn't it?" Fox said quietly. I merely nodded.

"Alright, now we journey to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, pulling out a small, grubby looking tin can.

"…Does it do anything?" Bull (Choiji) asked.

"Hurry and touch it, or you will be left behind!" He said sharply. With doubtful glances at one another, we touched the tin can.

Suddenly, I was jerked forward. All 12 of us were thrown forward, spinning and tumbling through the air. Suddenly, my face hit the grass. I gasped as multiple people landed on top of me.

"SPIDER (Shino)! Get your foot out of my face!" I mumbled, trying to untangle myself.

"OW! Dove (Hinata), that was my hand!" I heard Dog moan. Akamaru was running around the pile whining.

"Dumbledore, what the hell was that?" Fox groaned.

"That, my dear guest, was traveling by Portkey," he said.

"I don't care what it is, I never want to do it again," I heard Cat grumble.

After we untangled ourselves, we finally seemed to notice where we were. A huge castle loomed over us, and a cold breeze blew.

"ANBU of Konohagakure and Sunagakure, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

**So, please review, and tell me what u think. Constructive criticism is appreciated, and tell me otherwise if this story suks**

**Note: this was edited by (pen name) omgninjaspazz . please check out my profile/stories. Thanks =) and if I missed some stuff, sorry…**


	2. Our Grand Entrance

_**No reviews yet? :( Well, its ok. I know my writing skills arnt that gr8. But, could some ppl pls review? It makes my day. =)**_

_**This will be edited by omgninjaspazz, who is (and will 4eva b) awesome.**_

Regular is English

**Bolded is Japanese.**

_**Bolded and Italicized is A.U.**_

Chapter 2

No one spoke, but I could tell from everyone's chakra that we were all surprised, maybe a bit frightened, and a few of us—probably the stupid ones—were excited. Oops. I just called myself stupid.

"I would like to take you up to my office. I'm sure the staff would like to meet you," Dumbledore said, starting to walk up to the castle.

"Have you already informed them of our arrival?" Sakura asked, matching Dumbledore's brisk pace.

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled. "Not yet."

INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK

ANBU Team 15 stood quietly in the shadows of Dumbledore's office, waiting for Hogwarts' staff to arrive. We were all kinda nervous… I mean, how would the staff react to 12 teenagers being assigned to guard them?

Well, we would find out soon enough.

Dumbledore hurried into his office, four teachers—I assumed—following closely behind.

"Albus, what are you going about the security this year?" A tall woman with long black robes, her hair in a tight, neat bun asked, hurrying to keep up with his brisk pace.

"Yes, with the Triwizard Cup Tournament this year, you've better have hired someone," A small, squat woman with flyaway hair and a gray wizard hat pestered.

"Minerva, Pomona, relax," Dumbledore said with yet another smile. "It is already taken care of."

"Well, who have you hired?" An extremely small man wearing a suit asked. And by extremely small, I meant he came up to only a little above my knee. Yeah, that short.

"You'll see. You may show yourselves!" Dumbledore called to us.

We slowly melted out of the shadows, as if we were made of darkness itself. We formed a ragged circle around the teachers, crouching low in various battle stances. Some of us held various weapons—shuriken, kunai, anything. Some, like Hinata and Neji, just stood at the ready. Neither of them used weapons. I carried two windmill shuriken, both only partially unfolded. I used them kinda like claws, most of the time. My aim with them wasn't bad at all, if need be. I looked back at the various teachers, they all looked like they would die of fright.

"Albus, who are they?" the tall women – Minerva – asked nervously.

I stepped forward. "Allow me to introduce us. I am Wolf, the leader of this team. We are ANBU, an elite fighting unit from Konoha," I said emotionlessly.

"Yes, but what are you?" the tiny little teacher squeaked.

"Filius, they are ninjas," Dumbledore said.

"Albus, if I may, ninjas are nothing more then stories told to little children," the last teacher, a tall man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose, drawled.

"Well, it is the same condition between you and us," Neji said. "To us, witches and wizards do not exist. Yet, you are right in front of us, real to this world. We have to choice but to believe. You have to do the same."

"Dumbledore hired us to protect the castle and all its occupants," Shikamaru added, being sure to keep his voice emotionless. Had to make a good impression here.

"Albus, how did you even come upon their world?" Minerva asked incredulously.

"Well, you see, I was in the library, the restricted section, and I found an old scroll. It was a story about a nine-tailed fox demon," he began.

I heard Naruto draw in his breath sharply. "Did you say nine-tailed fox demon?" he squeaked. It was so un-Naruto like.

"Yes, a fox demon with nine tails," Dumbledore confirmed. "As I neared the end of the story, there was a small incantation with the name "Konohagakure" beside it. I said the incantation as a spell, and I wound up in your leader, Tsunade's, office."

"Whoa! The only one who can teleport is—?" Sakura quickly stomped on his foot, causing him to stop talking immediately. He knew he had let his emotions slip, and that I would kill him for it later.

"Well, she was surprised to see me in her office, but she did have some contact with our world. Apparently, she knew one of the past Headmasters, and he aided her in learning her healing and potions expertise. She owed our world a favor, and I chose to use it now," Dumbledore said.

"Well, if I may ask, take off your masks, as you will be serving for a whole year in this castle. I'm sure we'd all like to see your faces," the tall man said.

Everyone glanced at me.

I shook my head. "We are here under strict orders from Lady Hokage. We are not allowed to take off our masks for the first month we guard your…castle."

"And we must respect that Severus," Dumbledore said, with yet another smile. Geez this guy must have some serious 'smile muscles.' "I am in no position to give them orders. They are only obliged to follow the directions of their leader, the Hokage. Their mission is to protect us, not cater to our every whim—unless they so choose."

The man – Severus – gave me a distasteful look, like I should be waiting on him, ready to do anything he asked, and I felt my blood begin to boil, but quickly regained my composure. Showing emotions to possible foes were a ninja's weakness.

"Would you be so kind to introduce yourselves to our guards?" Dumbledore asked his staff politely.

"Of course. I am Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor House, and the Transfiguration Professor," the tall lady with black robes introduced herself.

"Pomona Sprout, Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff house," the small, squat woman said proudly.

"**What the hell is a Hufflepuff?"** I heard Chouji whisper behind me. _**(AVPM 4EVER!)**_

"I am Filius Flitwick, Charms master and Head of Ravenclaw house," the insanely small man said.

"Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin, Potions Master," the tall, dark man stated. He—especially his hair—reminded me of a giant, black, grease spot.

"Well, Minerva, would you please escort the guards to their temporary living quarters? Sixth floor, behind the picture of the scholars," Dumbledore said. Wait, temporary? Weren't we all going to be here for a year?

Professor McGonagall nodded, before motioning us out of the quite crowded office.

We all bowed respectfully. "Arigato gozaimasu," We all said before exiting the office.

We all walked quietly. To our surprise, it looked around midnight, which freaked us out quite a bit. It had been midday when we left Konoha, for crying out loud!

When reached the pictures, Hinata let out a small gasp.

"P-p-proffesor, why is that p-picture m-m-m-m-moving?" She stuttered.

It was true, the scholars in the picture were indeed moving. One of them smiled and waved at me.

"That's impossible!" Shikamaru shouted, only to be glanced at curiously by the same person that had smiled at me.

"HEY!" the scholar shouted.

"In our world, any picture taken with a wizard camera will indeed move, as if the moment was captured itself," she explained.

"As Professor Dumbledore said, this is only a temporary living space. He has explained that you will move into your house dorm when you show yourselves to the children in a week. Dumbledore has instructed to sort yourselves into each house accordingly."

"Accordingly? Is each house special in something?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. Members of each given house tend to share some personality traits. Some of you will get along better with certain houses than others," McGonagall was it, stated. "Gryffindor students are usually brave and chivalrous. Hufflepuff—loyal, dedicated, and hardworking. Ravenclaw, intelligent and clever. And Slytherin, ambitious and cunning. And there will also be students visiting from France and Bulgaria, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. We would like that some of you would watch over them as well." McGonagall explained.

"Alright, we will see to it," I said. "Arigato, Professor McGonagall."

She nodded, and then walked away briskly.

We all clambered through the portrait hole. Inside was what looked like a little house – a small fireplace burning merrily in the corner, a set of small couches and chairs, and a small, winding staircase that probably lead to the dorms.

"**Whoa…"** Ino breathed, speaking slowly in Japanese. **"It's so cool!"**

We went and checked out the dorms – girls on one side, boys on the other. We unpacked what little we had brought – small possessions, regular ninja outfits, and a hell of a lot of weapons. The girls' room, at least, looked like a full on armory.

I smiled as I gently placed two framed pictures on my bedside table. One was the whole squad standing by the gate to Konohagakure, laughing and having a good time. The other was Gaara and I standing on the Suna wall when we were 10. We were both smiling (a first for Gaara), and my arm was resting on his shoulder.

Sakura walked by my bed as I was gazing at the pictures. **"Hey, isn't that Sabaku no Gaara?"** she asked rapidly. She was curious about him. Anyone would be, I mean. How would a normal kunoichi like me have gotten to know the Kazekage?

I nodded. **"That was back after I escaped from the Sound…"** I trailed off, hinting that I didn't want to talk about it.

She heard the tone in my voice, nodded and walked away.

I collapsed on my bed, easing my mask off.

"**So, I need to get that list ready by next week…"** I sighed. **"I better get that started tomorrow."**

**ONE WEEK LATER**

We crouched on the rafters of the ceiling in the Great Hall, in our full armor. We were finally ready to show ourselves to the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Lovely.

"**Man,"** Naruto whispered from his spot next to me after seeing the two schools make a grand entrance. **"We should make a flashy entrance like that, or we'll seem like a bunch of weirdoes."**

"**Great idea,"** I whispered back, telling him an impromptu plan. He passed it on. **"Tell everyone to go on my cue."**

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

**~Harry's POV~**

After Beauxbatons and Durmstrang made their entrance, and after we saw the Viktor Krum, I didn't know if we could have been surprised by anything else we ever saw.

We were wrong.

Dumbledore held his hand up, motioning for silence in the hall. Ron, Hermione, and I stopped jabbering about Beauxbatons' and Durmstrang's flashy entrance.

"Welcome, students of Hogwarts. As you know, this year we will be hosting the TriWizard Tournemant," Dumbledore said, his voice magnified to the point that it filled every corner of the hall. "I have decided that hosting these extra students," he nodded to the beautiful women from Beauxbatons and the pretty scary looking people from Durmstang, "called for some extra protection. Please welcome, ANBU Team 15," everyone began a hesitant clap, wondering where these reinforcements were, and wondering why they had such a weird name. None of us had a problem with more protection.

I began to look around. Where were they? The gigantic doors at the end of the hall were open, but no one was there. I wondered if they were using some type of invisibility charm.

Suddenly, the wind in the room began to pick up. This was no surprise. The Great Hall was infamous for sudden storms—any kind of bad weather, really—filtering in from outdoors. What was really surprising happened next. A tornado formed just in front of Dumbledore's podium. I felt my jaw drop as I desperately grabbed for anything that would anchor me to the table. The wind was throwing everything in the hall—plates, food, silverware, and…was that Professor Flitwick? —in the air.

Slowly, the tornado changed shape. It began to closely resemble a giant wolf's head. The wolf howled soundlessly for a moment, then disappeared in less then a second.

I looked around, ready to survey the damage. And if I thought the other school's entrances, or even the giant wolf was surprising, this was even more so.

Everything in the hall was exactly as it was before the windstorm began.

All of the food and tableware remained exactly as it had been. Even Professor Flitwick was where he has started, in a chair next to Hagrid. I glanced at my friends, wondering if I was hallucinating. Apparently, I wasn't. Everyone in the hall, even the professors, had the same bewildered expression that I did.

I began to examine the room, looking for some hint at where this came from. I had never seen a spell like it before.

Then, a metallic glint from just in front of Dumbledore caught my eye, it came from the exact place the wolf-tornado had been.

Twelve fully armored and masked people stood in a perfectly straight line. Each one wore a different mask, all representing an animal. They looked… weird. Each of them wore dull gray plates of armor over loose fitting black clothes. Forearm and shin guards extended slightly past their elbows and knees, no matter their size or height. A bandage-like cloth was wrapped around one of their legs—most of them on their right—underneath a pouch that was tied around their legs, one on each person. There was also a strange tattoo on their shoulder. It looked like the girls had it on their right shoulder, guys on their left.

My eyes drifted up to their masks. They looked pretty cool and weird at the same time. It was obvious they all represented animals. The masks were white with colored portions and eyeholes. Odd. I thought back to the Quidditch World Cup. These masks were nothing like those of the Death Eaters. Phew.

One of them, the one in the middle, stepped forward. I could tell she was a girl by her hair, long and tied in two loose ponytails behind her mask. Her armor was different from all the others… instead of a dull gray, it was a luminous silver. It didn't… shine really… like, it didn't reflect any light. I assumed it was made like that on purpose, just like the rest were made to be dull. Hmph.

The girl wore a mask of a wolf. Suddenly, I realized it. She was the one that had made that tornado wolf storm.

The girl spoke.

"I am Wolf," she said, no emotion coloring her voice, "I am the leader of ANBU Team 15. We are shinobi sent to guard this school and it's members by the leaders of our villages, Konohagakure and Sunagakure." A shinobi? What was that? 'Wolf' began to introduce the others in her team. All of them were to be called by the name of some animal. Here's what caught in my mind;

Fox was third in command (Wolf explained that some guy named Raccoon was second in command, but he was unable to make this "mission"), Leopard was team medic (so, a nurse? She defiantly looked capable of fighting), and Cat, Spider, Dove, Dog, and their leader, Wolf, were scouts.

I was ripped from my thoughts when Dumbledore began to speak again, "They will be guarding our school, so please keep out of their hair as much as possible. Also, do not go down to the Quidditch field except for scheduled practice times or games. The field will serve as their practice area. You may be killed if you stumble upon them when they don't expect it," he smiled as if this was all jolly news. My Quidditch field was being taken from me! "Now, for information on the TriWizard Tournament..."

**Hehe, they made a grand entrance. :P.**

**So, reviews would be gr8tly appreciated, and there is a link to Hyuuga Aeri on my profile.**

**Ja Ne!**

**XxSenritsuNoTenshixX**


	3. How Weird

**Hi!**

**Because I want the story to turn out a certain way, I'm gonna be messing with the times a bit.**

**The students arrive at Hogwarts, and they are there for a month under the eye of the ninja. After that month, the ANBU take their masks off, and then they have Mad-eye's class. A couple days after, the Goblet makes its selection. **

**DISCLAIMER : If I owned Naruto, Hinata would already be with Naruto, Sasuke would be dead, Gaara wouldn't have died, etc. But I don't. So I can't.**

Chapter 3

**Harry's POV**

All of Hogwarts, as well as the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, sat and listened carefully to what our Headmaster had to say. The topic was one of _great _interest, after all. He was explaining the Triwizard Tournament.

Dumbledore explained that selected Champions would compete in three tasks designed to test magical ability, intelligence and courage. The Headmasters and Headmistresses of the three schools, along with Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman, would judge their performances in these tasks. The Champions would compete for the honor and glory of winning the Tournament, and the prize for the victor is the Triwizard Cup and a monetary prize. However, he also said that the Tournament was extremely dangerous. Some competitors had even _died_.

According to him, sometime after the 1792 Triwizard Tournament, it was discontinued because the death toll became too high.

I swear I could hear the Weasley twins whispering excitedly. It was obvious they both wanted to enter.

But, naturally, the Ministry of Magic screwed everything up for them. The number of deaths was just too high for them, so they had changed the rules. Now, no wizard or witch under the age of 17 would be allowed to enter. This, of course, earned a number of angry shouts from everyone in the Great Hall, the Weasley twins included. Personally, I valued my life, and I was not about to give it up for 'eternal glory'. Christ, I think I already had it… not that I was trying to brag… but, well… yeah.

During this whole speech, the 'shinobi' had been standing motionless. Wolf had only moved once to have a quiet chat with the one called Dog.

When Dumbledore finished talking, Wolf once again stepped forward.

"As we have been assigned to protect this school and it's guests, we will be staying with them to further protection. For those who attend Hogwarts, we will split up into various houses. As for those who are guests here, some of us will be staying in your quarters as well," she began.

Nervous whispering broke out. They would be in out common rooms?

"What if they murder us in out sleep?" Ron whispered anxiously.

"And no, we will not murder you in our sleep," she stated blandly.

I exchanged a look with Ron. How had she heard that?

"Anyways, Dog, his ninken Akamaru, and I will be staying with Gryffindor," she started up again. Dog gave an imperceptible nod while the enormous dog barked. I mean, it looked like Dog could have _ridden _the thing easily.

"Fox and Dove will be staying with Hufflepuff, Eagle and Deer will be staying with Ravenclaw, Cat at Leopard with Slytherin, Jaguar and Bull with Beauxbatons, and Spider and Panther with Durmstrang," she finished. "Any questions?"

Half the hands in the Great Hall shot up.

If she was surprised, she didn't show it. All she said was, "My teammates will answer what they can when we go back to your 'common rooms'."

"Well, off to bed now! Pip pip!" Dumbledore cut in.

There was the usual sound of chairs scraping on the bottom of the floor as we all stood up to go back to our common rooms. I snuck a glance back at the guards, who were now in a huddle, conversing quietly amongst themselves, before we exited the Great Hall.

**Aeri's POV**

"**Ok guys, one of the each pair stay here to patrol, while the other goes up to the common rooms, hopefully you can get some rest. Switch groups at 2 a.m.," **I whispered.

Neji, Naruto, Kankuro, Temari, Kiba (by force), and Ino stayed behind to take first watch while the rest of us set out to search for our assigned common rooms.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

I easily caught up with the Gryffindor group as they walked to the seventh floor in the east wing of the castle. The password to get into their common room —Dumbledore had explained the whole portrait/password system to us—was "balderdash", which was one of the oddest words I have ever heard. I clambered in after all of the students with my backpack full of my possessions.

Inside were some squishy looking armchairs and couches, tables, and a crackling fireplace. Every aspect of the room screamed warm and cozy, the deep reds furthering the feeling.

They students finally seemed to notice I was standing behind them. They really needed to learn how to take in their surroundings better. Among them, I stood out like a sore thumb. The younger students shrank back, but the older ones immediately bombarded me with questions. I answered almost all of them; careful not to give away anything that was better kept a secret. I took special care answering the questions asked by the 'Weasley Twins'; their personality reminded me of Naruto's, and he is always looking for trouble…

Anyways, after the students were finally satisfied, I collapsed on one of the couches. I intended to sleep there until Kiba came back to wake me up for the next watch. Apparently, this was weird.

"Aren't you going to come up to the dorm?" A girl with bushy brown hair asked me.

I shook my head. "Dog and Akamaru wouldn't be able to reach me for next watch. I've slept in trees, battlefields, and on top of a lake. This is great."

"She's mad," I heard one of the twins whisper.

"Off her rocker," the other agreed.

**Harry's POV**

"There's something wrong with that guard," Ron proclaimed, sitting on his bed.

"What? Other then the fact that she doesn't come from this world, she seems pretty normal," Seamus said.

"Well, Hermione and the twins told me that she's gonna be sleeping on the couch her whole stay here. She says that she's slept in a tree, on a battlefield, even on a lake!" Ron yelled.

"Pfft. How is that even possible?" I laughed. "C'mon, she's a regular guard, and beside, how does one even sleep _on _a lake?"

The rest of us laughed, but Ron still looked nervous…

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

Today marked a whole month since the guards had come to protect us. Nothing really unusual has happened; other then the fact that they would regularly watch out classes, and we have all steered clear of the Quidditch field.

But today was clearly the weirdest day ever.

**LAST NIGHT, AERI'S POV**

I slunk down to the Great Hall's entrance, where we all agreed to meet for a secret meeting.

Once everyone was there, I immediately started talking.

"**Ok, it's been a month. Tsunade-sama said we could ditch the ANBU stuff now if we trust them. Who wants to go through with it?" **I whispered.

It was a unanimous vote. Tomorrow, we would we would go about in our normal attire.

**NEXT MORNING, HARRY'S POV**

It was the same morning ritual - get up, go to the Great Hall for breakfast, owls would deliver the post, and then it was off to class.

But today, there was a little twist in our schedule.

"Hey Harry, who are they?" Ron whispered, pointing to a group of 10 teenagers walking through the Great Hall.

I squinted at them. They weren't dressed in the normal witch and wizard robes, instead wearing a wacky variety of garments that I hardly dared call 'clothes,' for I had never seen clothes that looked so… odd. If I wasn't mistaken, those teenagers were…

"Ron, those are the guards!" I whispered.

"They can't be!" Hermione gasped. "They looked so much older!"

It was true. With their masks and emotionless ways of conducting themselves, they could have easily been in their late twenties. Instead, the group of kids in front of us looked no older then a group of 6th-years. And instead of their usual emotionless façade, they were all laughing, seemingly enjoying themselves. What happened?

The ones that I think were called Wolf and Dog plopped down next to us, talking and laughing. By now, the whole Great Hall had fallen quiet, and they were all now looking at the new side of the guards.

"Um…" Hermione stuttered. "You are…"

"Oh, sorry, didn't introduce ourselves," the girl who closely resembled the ANBU leader said. She had on a black halter-top that went down to just above her stomach, and brown cargo pants. Long, cloth-like bandages were wrapped around her stomach, and she had a weird kind of sandals on. She also had gloves that nearly went up to her shoulder. "I'm Hyuuga Aeri, but you can call me Aeri-chan. My brother is Hyuuga Neji, Slytherin guard, and my cousin is Hyuuga Hinata, Hufflepuff guard. This idiot is my partner, Inuzuka Kiba, and we're the two guards for Gryffindor."

"Wait, his name is Inuzuka?" Ron asked, confused.

"Uh, no…" Aeri said slowly. "Our clan name comes before our name… so his name is Kiba."

"Why aren't you in your armor and masks?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Tsunade-sama said that if we can trust you, we can act normal, and dress normal. Plus, that armor can get uncomfortable," she explained.

"Wait, aren't there supposed to be 12 of you?" I asked.

Kiba scanned the room, and then broke out in a huge grin. "Naruto and Sakura!" he announced. Who were they?

Aeri groaned. "Not again…"

Kiba, now wearing a large grin, crowed, "In 5, 4, 3, 2…"

At that moment, the blonde, spiky haired boy wearing an assortment of black and a bright shade of orange, it could rival the Weasley's hair, ran in, screaming, while the pink haired girl wearing a red top with white circles, black gloves, black high-heeled boots, black shorts, short pink apron-like skirt, and pink elbow protector ran after him, wielding short knives.

"NARUTO!" the girl screamed. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"

"I'M SORRY!" The boy screamed back.

Aeri sighed. "I'll break it up."

She suddenly leaped across the Great Hall, and I mean _all _the way across, earning a number of gasps.

Landing in front of Sakura, she hit her a couple times with her palm, making her gasp and fall to the ground. Naruto, during the chaos, had _run up the wall_. He was now crouching just above the window, as if he was standing on the ground.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" Aeri yelled angrily. "Naruto, get the hell down from there! Do you want me to have to _come up there and get you?_" she growled the last sentence through clenched teeth. Kiba began laughing hysterically.

Naruto gulped and scurried down, like he was a mouse or something. Sakura had looked like she recovered from whatever Aeri had done, though I was suspicious. I mean, she had barely tapped her, and she had collapsed…

"What the hell, you guys!" Aeri yelled. "This is a S-ranked mission, or have you forgotten?"

"But-"

"I DON'T want to hear it, Naruto! No more fighting, understand? Or I'll send you home and ask for a replacement. We clear?" she said angrily to the both of them.

"Hai, Aeri-taicho," They both said dully, before returning to their respective table.

Aeri sighed before leaping back over to the Gryffindor table, banging her head on the table, muttering angrily.

Kiba laughed. "Well, you handled that well!"

Aeri's fist flew out, punching him in the shoulder. "Shut the hell up," She muttered.

Thus, my weird day began.

**Hehe…**

**Ja Ne!**

**XxSenritsuNoTenshixX**


	4. The Unforgivable Curses

****Cries** I still don't have reviews! NOOOOO! PLS PLS PLS! REVIEW! I know some ppl are reading this!**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Naruto, Hinata would already be with Naruto, Sasuke would be changed back to good, Orochimaru would rot in hell, and Jiraiya wouldn't have died. But I don't own it. So I can't change anything.**

**Also, any Ravenclaw passwords you see don't belong to me. They belong to either J.K. Rowling, or the people of the Leaky Lounge.**

Chapter 4

**Harry's POV**

As I walked into Professor Moody's class, I caught sight of Aeri, Kiba, and another girl that Aeri called 'Ino,' seated in the back of the class talking quietly, as usual. They'd been watching my classes since, well, forever.

Professor Moody came out and started the lesson.

"Right, then," he began. "I've received a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough teaching in tackling Dark creatures – boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and Werewolves, right?"

We all nodded. Where was he going with this?

"But you are behind, very far behind, in dealing with curses," he growled. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what Dark wizards are capable of. According to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you counter curses and leave it at that. Legally, I'm not allowed to these curses until you are 16. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with them till then. But, Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can handle this stuff already. I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better."

"So, can any of you tell me which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding Law?"

Ron's hand tentatively went up. "Er, my dad told me about one... the Imperious Curse, I think it was called?"

"Ah, Arthur Weasley's son?" Moody said, "Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble, the Imperious Curse."

Moody took out a palm-sized brown spider, and placed it on Ron's desk. I saw him recoil a bit – Ron hated spiders.

Moody pointed his wand at the spider, muttering a quick "_Engorgio_!" before "_Imperio_!"

The spider then did a strange assortment of activities, including a tap dance, a back flip, and a series of cartwheels. It even jumped on a few people, Ron being one of them. The whole class was laughing, except for Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "Would you like it if I set it on you?"

The class immediately fell silent.

"Total control," Moody said quietly, making the spider roll over and over. "I can make it drown itself, jump out a window, crawl down your throats…" Ron shuddered at the last one.

"Another curse?" he barked.

Neville, to our surprise, raised his hand up slowly.

"There's one – the Cruciatus Curse," he said slowly, seemingly amazed at his own daringness.

"Your name…Longbottom?" Moody said. Neville nodded slowly.

Moody turned his attention back to the spider. He raised his wand and muttered, "_Crucio_!"

The spider rolled over, legs twitching, rocking from side to side. Neville eyes rounded in horror as the spider spazzed more violently, his knuckles turning white as he clutched the desk. Moody's wand did not move. The spider squeaked frantically, shuddering and jerking –

Suddenly, a blur flew across the room. Something lashed out, tossing the wand out of Moody's hand. The wand clattered to the floor, one of the last things you wanted to happen—as a wizard anyway. Surprisingly, none of us paid any attention to the wand. We were all too focused on figuring out what the mysterious blur was.

Wait, was it…?

It was Aeri. She still had her hand out, where it had come in contact with Moody's. Her eyes were filled with disgust, pain, and hatred.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione hissed, "You just _punched _a teacher!"

Her pupil-less eyes (that _still _freaks me out…) turned to Hermione.

"No one should suffer through that kind of torture," she whispered.

"Well, hate to break it to you, but that curse was very popular back when the Dark Lord was about." Moody snarled, angry at having to retrieve his wand from the floor.

"Well, you ever had it tried on yourself?" Aeri retorted, absolute rage filling her eyes. "'Cuz, if you want to know it's effects, I have a ton of experience with that _particular _curse. I felt that stinking pain for 6 years!"

Everyone was stunned into silence. The spider had been under the curse for, what, 30 seconds? It had looked like it was about to explode due to the pain. How had this girl survived that much pain for _6 years?_

"In fact, those curses aren't anything special," she went on. "Ino over there? If she wanted, she could control minds with nothing but herself. All of us could put any one of you through that much pain," she nodded at the trembling spider, "with our bare hands."

"How would you know?" some guy shouted.

"Because I've done it myself!" she shouted back. "I've thrown a knife clean through someone's forehead! I've slit an enemies throat with my _fingernail. _I've mutilated someone's organs, without breaking their skin. I've had to watch my friends nearly get killed in front of me hundreds of times. _I've watched people die saving me from assassins when I was 10 years old. _You don't know anything about real pain! Not until you've had a demon sealed inside of you!"

The class was obviously shocked at her outburst, but she didn't pay any attention. All she did was go back to her seat next to Kiba.

"The last curse!" Moody suddenly barked. "Who can give it to me?"

After Aeri's little outburst, no one seemed to know, but Hermione's well-practiced hand flew towards the ceiling for the 3rd time.

"_Avada Kedavera_," she said quietly.

"Aah, yes, the Killing Curse," Moody growled. Could he do anything _but_ growl?

For the last time, he turned to the spider. He raised his wand and roared, "_Avada Kedavera_!"

There was a flash of brilliant green light, and a rushing sound, and the spider rolled over, dead.

"The Killing Curse," Moody growled softly. "The most unforgivable. No avoiding it. No stopping it. There's only one person to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room."

All eyes turned to me. I was shocked – had my parents died with nothing more then a flash of green light before all signs of life fled from their body?

"What's with you three?" Hermione yelled, looking at the three guards. "You've just witnessed the most unforgivable of the Unforgivable Curses, and you look _bored_!"

"Thing is," Kiba said matter of fact-ly. "The three of us, we would give up a lot to die like that."

Our mouths dropped. WHAT?

"You see," began Ino, "We all see ourselves dying on the battlefield. We imagine our deaths being because someone has stabbed and slashed us to the point that all we can do is lie there in pain. Actually, we would consider it lucky if we did die that way. Members of our team are a lot more likely to be tortured to death for information. Dying painlessly from a flash of light? That's _pleasant_ compared to what we look up to."

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

"Its unbelievable! She's mad!" I burst out at dinner.

"Who's mad?" George asked from across the table.

"If you're referring to Ron, we completely agree with you, mate," Fred complied.

"I think Harry's referring to the female guard," Hermione stated. "She actually looked _bored _when Moody performed the Killing Curse."

"We always knew she was mental," Fred said.

"Completely off her rocker," George agreed.

Just then, Aeri entered the Great Hall with Sakura and Kiba, so we shut up pretty quick.

Sakura went to sit with the Slytherins. I noticed Malfoy move to sit next to her pretty quickly. Great.

"You do realize that _Draco Malfoy, _the greatest scumbag on the face of the earth, is sitting next to Sakura?" I said to Aeri and Kiba after they sat down.

Kiba glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "Sakura can take care of herself," he said. "If he starts flirting, she'll just slap him and walk away."

"But if he questions her ability," Aeri continued. "She'll punch him with her chakra fist." She had been talking to Kiba more than any of us, as if the subject amused her.

"It'll be the slap."

"No way. Chakra fist."

"Loser takes first watch."

"Deal!"

We all watched as Malfoy talked to her quietly. After about a minute, we saw her stiffen and retort back. After he replied, I saw Sakura's eye flash with anger. And then…

She punched him square in the face.

"Yesssss!" Aeri cheered. "You're taking 1st, Kiba!"

**Aeri's POV**

After I saw Sakura punch that Malfoy weirdo, I leapt to her side.

"So, doubted your ability, am I right?" I asked casually, leaning towards her with a huge grin. I had just won a bet.

"No freaking duh!" she said angrily. "He doesn't think we're _fit _enough to protect the castle."

"Well," I said. "I can fix that."

**Harry's POV**

The next day, Saturday, the guards weren't at breakfast. Right before 9:00, Dumbledore made an unexpected announcement.

"You may notice that our guards are not present at breakfast right now," he started. "Well, they have chosen not to give anything away, instead asking everyone to be in the stands of the Quidditch field at 9:30. They would like to, ah, demonstrate something."

"Also, Mr. Malfoy," he said. "I do ask that you be nicer to our guards, as they can "pack a punch"."

Malfoy scowled, his anger quickly turning to embarrassment as he noticed the whole hall was staring at him—ghosts included.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

When I climbed into the Quidditch stands, a first for me, I seriously let out a gasp.

My Quidditch field was _gone_. My Quidditch field! My favorite place in the whole school! _Gone!_

In its place, was what looked like a mini desert. Sand filled the stadium up to the stands, yet the goal hoops still stuck out of the sand at their usual height.

"Bloody wicked!" George said when he took a seat next to me. "I don't know what they're going to do, but this is amazing!"

But there was defiantly more to come.

Aeri stepped out and began to speak. She said that they were going to spar in a 2-on-2 form, the first group being Aeri and Temari vs. Neji and Kankuro.

To our surprise, Sakura leapt into the empty seat next to us, saying that she was medic if things got too bad. Our medic wasn't good enough?

"Do you think the teams are evenly matched?" Hermione asked. "I mean, didn't you say that Neji was the prodigy, and that Aeri was second best after him?"

"Well, the thing is," Sakura answered. "The Hyuuga technique, the Byakugan, can see through any attack, an absolute defense so to speak. But, Neji isn't used to fighting in a desert. His only chance is to rely on Kankuro for a fighting strategy.

"Aeri, on the other hand, is a whole different story. She was kidnapped when she was 3, and had a… a demon sealed inside of her. Her kidnappers tortured her to no end for six years, the equivalent of your Cruciatus Curse in this world."

_A Cruciatus Curse for six years… _I thought with horror. _This girl really _has _seen it all!_

"She broke out when she was nine, and she ended up at the Suna gates," Sakura continued. "Suna is a city situated in the desert. Since she trained there for most of her life, she learned how to fight in this type of terrain." Sakura gestured to the massive amounts of sand in the arena. "The knowledge of this terrain, added to her knowledge of her Byakugan as well as Neji's, and not to mention that Temari, Kankuro's sister, is more experienced-"

"Would give her team the upperhand!" Hermione finished.

Sakura nodded. "In our world, you don't necessarily have to be the strongest to be the best. You just need to be able to outsmart your opponent long enough to get the final blow. Shikamaru, for example, has an IQ over 200. It helped him beat Temari, who had years more experience than he did.

"Bloody hell," Ron said. "You're world is complicated!"

Sakura laughed.

And the battle began.

**I will not update until I get at least 2 more reviews. PLSPLSPLS?**

**Ja Ne!**

**XxSenritsuNoTenshixX**

**Beta'd by omgninjaspazz =)**


	5. Battlefield Twist

**Hi! I'm sorry this took so long to get out, but this is a huge battle scene, and plus school just started, soooo… yeah.**

**8 REVIEWS! I swear, I nearly died of a heart attack. Thnx so much! I'd like a couple reviews before I post the next chapter. XP**

**Bold stuff is Japanese, regular is English**

**So, without further ado, here is….**

Chapter 5

**Aeri's POV**

"BYAKUGAN!" Neji and I both shouted, activating out clan's bloodline limit, the special, coveted, ability possessed only by the Hyuuga clan. I heard a couple of gasps as the veins in my temples bulged and became more prominent, inhumanly so, and my pupils became slightly more distinct.

"I'll go after Kitty-man," I whispered to Temari. "Try and distract Neji-kun."

"HEY!" I heard Kankuro shout at me, thin, nearly invisible chakra strings already attached to his puppets, Karasu, Kuroari (it had freakish red horns, they still crept me out whenever I saw them), and Sanshouo. "Did you just call me 'Kitty-man'?" he roared.

I grinned slyly. "Maybe," I said, shrugging.

Kankuro glared at me, before moving his fingers in a seemingly pointless fashion, but I knew better. Karasu spewed a dark black smokescreen over itself and its fellow puppets. I then heard a clicking sound, followed by the soft whoosh of Kuroari fireing something – needles.

"What a dumbass," I mumbled.

Kankuro had forgotten that I spent pretty much half my life with him, and that I'd seen this trick attack used probably hundreds of times. Plus, the smokescreen did absolutely nothing in the way of obscuring the actual attack, I was using the Byakugan, after all. I dodged the needles with ease, and soon escaped the acrid smelling smoke.

As I leapt, Kankuro manipulated Kuroari to meet me in midair, a poisoned blade in its hands It raised the blade with a surprisingly fluid motion—for a puppet—and brought it back down. Hard. I focused my chakra into my fingernails—weird, I know. With the amount of chakra I'd focused in them, they would easily match the strength of the poisoned blade.

I landed neatly on my feet, whipping out my windmill shiruken — a giant set of four, for me, three, curved blades, attached to a ring in the center. Only, mine was altered… just a bit..

"Not bad Kitty-man," I called. "But you've forgotten one minor detail – I know every single one of your moves!" I spun my hands gracefully, causing my shuriken to fly open, but not all the way. This was where my modification came in. The rings in the middle were designed to fit into my closed fist, rotating the blades so they would extend from in between my fingers.

I then assumed the Gentle Fist stance. I could hear someone in the croud gasp, "What in the name of Merlin is she doing?" but I ignored them. I knew Kankuro couldn't see through the smoke, and he was probably going to get agitated with himself soon.

"Come on Kitty-man!" I taunted. The battle was pretty much at a standstill, Temari and Neji still sizing each other up. "To scared to stand up and fight?"

That did it. Kankuro sped out of the smoke, puppets in front of him. I waited… and waited… and when he was close enough, I attacked.

I sprung forward, dodging between Karasu and Kuroari. I slashed out with my blades in hand—one and a half foot claws, really—holding back a little so the hits wouldn't be fatal. He stepped back and nimbly evaded a swipe from my left hand.

He smirked, thinking I had missed.

I smirked, knowing I didn't.

Three large cuts opened up on his upper left arm, scarlet blood spilling from the gashes.

"Damn y—" he began to say, finally remembering that I could make invisble blades out of chakra, but I was already moving. As I jumped towards him, I folded and put away my shuriken; I wanted to incapacitate Kankuro, not kill him.

"Two palms!" I yelled, striking him squarely in the chest, channeling chakra through my hands and into his chakra points. "Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!" I struck him in the neck, sending him flying backwards. His puppets had long since dropped, lifeless, to the ground.

"I win, Kitty-man," I smirked.

I heard scattered applause, as well as some murmuring from the crowd as Sakura helped Kankuro off the battlefield. Then, I turned my attention to Neji. I had been so focused on one opponent, that I completely tuned out the battle between Neji and Temari.

Temari had her giant fan out; Katamari, her one-eyed weasel, had been summoned.

"Aeri, a little help here?" she said, keeping her eyes on Neji, who was in the gentle fist stance.

I nodded, bringing my shuriken back out and unfolding them to their full, razor sharp, claw-like potential. Let the battle begin.

Temari used her Dust Wind technique, stirring up the sand, causing it to fly up in a giant dust cloud that would reduce anyone's vision by at least half. We both knew that this would do nothing against Neji, who had the Byakugan, but the sand would probably find its way into his eyes. Temari and I were protected in my Hakkesho Kaiten.

When the sand cleared, Neji was still standing there unharmed, in a stance I recognized all too well.

"Move!" I shouted to Temari, leaping to push her out of Neji's path, but it was too late. Neji struck her with the 8 Trigrams 64 Palms, and it was over. Sakura retrieved Temari, and now, it was a one-on-one battle.

"You can give up now, if you'd like," Neji called, reassuming a fighting stance.

"Me? Never!" I retorted, assuming a similar stance.

Then, we both charged.

**Harry's POV**

I watched with a growing excitement as Aeri and Neji charged at each other, moving at speeds that weren't humanly possible. Each was a blur of color against the yellowy sand. Sand erupted into the air as they collided, both swinging at each other. Punches and kicks flew, all merely blurs of color.

"Bloody wicked," George muttered from next to me. "Hate to get on that girl's bad side."

"She is a good fighter," a heavily accented voice said from behind me.

I turned my head to see a group of Durmstrang students standing behind us, watching the two siblings fight fiercely.

"Yeah, she is," I admitted. "No wonder they're the ones protecting our castle." To think, we doubted them!

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ron asked incredulously, finally tearing his eyes away from the battle.

One of the students shrugged. "The Great Hall was empty," he said in another heavily accented voice. "One of the ghosts told us that there was a fight going on in the Quidditch Field."

I turned back to the battle, afraid that looking away for a moment would cause me to miss something good.

Aeri and Neji seemed to block each other's attacks with fast, fluid motions, neither of them landing a single hit. This pattern went on for about a minute or so.

"Bloody hell," Ron said. "This could take forever!"

"Not necessarily," Kiba said from behind us. I jumped; I hadn't even heard him approach.

"With the Gentle Fist technique, they can distort chakra flow, the energy we use to make our attacks so lethal," he explained. "The chakra flow in our bodies is connected to our vital organs. Using the Gentle Fist technique, they could probably burst your heart, collapse your lungs, or puncture an organ without even breaking your skin."

We all shuddered.

On the battlefield, both were still going strong. But, as we watched, Aeri seemed to find an opening, jamming her flat palm into Neji's shoulder. Neji barely seemed affected by the hit, staggering only a little.

"Yes!" Kiba cheered. "It's over!"

"How?" Hermione snapped, glaring at Kiba's apparent idiocy. "Aeri landed _one hit._ Not even a good one! It's going to take more then tha-"

There was a shriek, and our attention was immediately pulled back to the battle, where we were met with a shocking surprise.

Blood poured out of Neji's mouth, staining his white robes crimson. He clutched his chest near his heart and coughed, spitting blood from his mouth. The sand in front of him was turning red. Aeri stood off to the side, smirking in triumph, completely unworried about her seemingly dying teammate.

"How did she do that?" The Durmstrang student asked in awe. "All she did was hit his shoulder…"

"With Gentle Fist technique, one hit could be a matter of life and death," Kiba explained. "That chakra flow that Aeri hit was connected to his heart. She sent her chakra into his chakra stream, disrupting his flow of chakra, which in turn disrupted the flow of blood to his heart. It's like I said, the damage from their style of fighting is a lot worse then it looks, at first anyway."

"Will he be alright?" Hermione asked fretfully, watching the ANBU stagger around in the sand, coughing up more and more blood. The scene was extremely gory. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of girls turn away, clutching their stomachs or mouths.

"Neji? He'll be all right. We've all had worse," Kiba shrugged as if the scene before him was no big deal.

"What's worse then coughing up your guts, literally?" Fred mumbled.

We watched as Neji got back to his feet, and the two Hyuugas charged at each other for the final blow.

"Oh my!" Hermione cried, bringing her hands to her mouth. "He can't be meaning to continue….!"

But, before their fists connected, a huge explosion, and I mean HUGE. As in, enough to send all of the sand above our heads, and pour back down in a painful rendition of rain, kind of explosion sent both ninja flying backwards.

Once we all got the sand out of what felt like every opening on our heads, we noticed a group of people standing on a mound of sand in the middle of the arena.

Two of them wore long… erm, jackets? Dresses? Robes? …Well, anyway, hey wore black…cloaks with a pattern of red clouds. It made a very interesting design.

One (I guessed) man had a long blonde ponytail, and was standing on a massive white bird that was probably not native to England. Christ, it looked featherless too! I thought I saw a bright flash of red, but it soon disappeared. Must've been my imagination.

The other (I guessed again) man was hunched over, and wore a sort of… sunhat with white strips of cloth hanging over his face.

A feral snarl erupted from Kiba's throat.

**"Akatsuki…"** he growled, fists clenching.

"What is A-" Hermione started to ask, but Kiba leapt from the stands without warning. We gaped. It had to be at least a hundred foot drop! And I would know, I fell from my broom in 3rd year… If someone didn't help him, we would soon have a human pancake on our hands.

All around the arena, the other ninja, including Kankuro and Temari (Sakura must've used her "chakra" to help them…) leapt to form a ragged circle around the odd group.

But, what made my blood run cold were the people in black robes, and skull masks. Death Eaters.

**Let's back up to the very end of the battle, shall we?**

**Aeri's POV**

I watched as my brother coughed up blood and staggered around, staining the ground red. It was an all too familiar color. I had hit a non-vital point, but it still did look pretty gory. I'd bet that a bunch of the girls watching in the stands were freaking out just about now.

"Well brother, ready to give up yet?" I called.

"You know you didn't hit something vital," he said calmly, wiping the blood from his mouth, but still shaking. "I'm not dead yet."

"Good," I grinned.

Without further warning, I charged.

Neji must've foreseen this, because he ran towards me too, fist loaded. We both planned to end the battle, here and now.

But, before I could ram my fist into his skull, a huge explosion threw me back, sand filling my open mouth and eyes. When I had rubbed the sand from my face, Deidara and Sasori of Akatsuki were there, with a bunch of (what I assumed to be) Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters.

I was on my feet in an instant, joining the ragged circle of my teammates that surrounded the enemy nin.

**"Akatsuki,"** I snarled, whipping out my kunai. I didn't want them to know about my shuriken just yet… **"What are you doing here?"**

**"We are here under orders from Lord Voldemort," **Deidara said in a bored tone. **"The Dark Lord proposes a trade. You have Potter. We have someone dear to you. Give us Potter, and we'll let him go."**

**"What makes you think that we'll give up Potter so easily?" **Temari growled, whipping out her giant fan. Dumbledore had made a point of telling us that he was to be protected at all costs, more so than anyone else in the school.

Deidara smirked and snapped his fingers.

The huge clay bird unfurled his tail, and when I saw the person held there. I nearly screamed in horror.

It was Gaara.

**"GAARA!" **Naruto screamed.

**"So," **Sasori drawled. **"Potter for the Kazekage. A trade?"**

**"Never," **I snarled. **"You're not leaving with Gaara or Potter." **Pure rage pumped through me with every heartbeat. How DARE they take my earliest friend…!

**"If that's the way it is," **Sasori said, drawing out his armored tail. **"I guess we have no choice but to fight."**

The ANBU all took their stances.

**"Bring it," **Naruto snarled, red chakra swirling about him.

**"This will be over quickly," **Sasori drawled. **"I hate to keep the Dark Lord waiting."**

Before I could work out a battle plan, Naruto charged.

**"SHUT THE HELL UP!" **He screamed, launching himself at Sasori. The next thing I knew, Naruto was flying backwards. He collided with the arena's wall, releasing a loud bang. Sasori's tail swayed, twitching slightly, as if it enjoyed the pain it had inflicted.

**"Naruto!" **I yelled, knowing that he wasn't seriously hurt. **"Calm down, and let Shikamaru and I think of a plan."**

But did that idiot listen? No way.

Naruto bolted towards Sasori again, aglow with the Kyuubi's chakra.

"NO!" I screamed, but wasn't fast enough to stop him.

Sasori saw the attack coming, and lazily knocked Naruto into the stands with his tail.

"Naruto!" Hinata shouted, unmoving. She knew better than to break rank, not with enemies of this caliber.

Sasori extended his tail, sending out a chorus of popping sounds as pieces pulled apart. His tail swung towards Naruto, aiming to stab him in the chest. But, Naruto was fast, and leapt away in a puff of smoke. I was sure Sasori noticed this, but his tail didn't slow.

"Move!" Temari and I screamed at the lone Durmstrang student, left in the now empty stand, petrified with fear.

The arena went silent. Almost. A wet tearing sound, seemingly magnified by the shocked silence, filled my ears. The sound was one that was indescribable. It was the sound, one I had heard millions of times, of a blade forcing its way through a wall of flesh and bone. It was the sound of someone dying a painful death.

**I'd like to have a couple reviews before I post the next chapter. Thnx so much for the reviews! I mean, 8? I had a heart attack! SO, yeah, there is a button down there. Click on it. Type words. Press submit. BOOM! Ur done! It makes my day, u know?**

**Edited by omgninjaspazz**


	6. Is she OK?

**Hi!**

**Im sorry I update slowish, but mah beta and I (we go to the same school, same grade, same classes) usually get a heck of a lot of homework. Plus, I've got cross country practice, soccer, AND mah beta gets Chinese HW that her teacher gives out, so its kinda tough. But, I'll try and get out as many chapters as I can during the school year.**

**THNX!**

Chapter 6

**Aeri's POV**

Let me tell you some things about myself.

You see, there's some stuff I can totally handle, and some things I cannot take.

Blood. Dripping down the walls of the arena in flowing crimson rivers. That's not a problem.

Screams. Everywhere, surrounding me, the screams of terrified students, even some from my teammates. Bring it on.

But, at the moment, there was one thing that I just couldn't _stand._ That thing was Sasori's tail, poison and all, tearing straight through my gut.

Crap is an understatement.

I had been impulsive. Instead of blocking the attack with my Hakkesho Kaiten, I had leaped up and shoved the student to safety.

Now, I was pinned against a beam in the stands, Sasori's tail skewering me like a shish-ka-bob. Add some screaming little kiddies running around like it was the end of their days, Akastuki, Death Eaters, an unconscious (hostage) Gaara, and a kick-ass but stupid Naruto to the mix, and you _might_ just understand how I felt. Lovely.

You might say that I had my chakra to save me? Nope. The flow had been disrupted by the giant, sharp, TAIL THAT WAS STICKING THROUGH MY STOMACH.

An involuntary groan escaped my tight jaw. Being stabbed in the gut hurts to high hell, you can trust me on that.

Well, you also might say that I had weapons, right? Nooo…they were MIA.

The only chance I had of getting out of this was for my teammates to help me, but they were pretty tied up trying to help themselves.

Crap. Again, a _major_ understatement.

_**Release the power…**_

My eyes snapped open. "Who said that?" I mumbled, barely able to hold in a scream.

_**It is me, child. Gobi no Houkou, the demon that resides in you, sealed away by Orochimaru. Let my power take over… it's the only chance you've got to survive.**_

"Get out of my head," I said, my words slurred. If I released the Gobi, yeah, I'd survive, but I was pretty sure that everyone in the stadium would be killed. Including Potter.

And the mission always comes first.

The last thing I remembered was a crunching sound, like Sakura was beating the snot out of someone. Then, I was falling, falling, falling…

**Harry's POV**

_Death Eaters._

I felt my blood run cold. Voldemort had found me.

"Harry, we need to get out of here!" Hermione yelled over screams, she was only feet away.

"Right," I yelled back, pushing my way through the stampede. "Let's get bac-"

"Move!" Aeri and Temari suddenly screamed. Instead of actually listening to them, we all froze. The guards NEVER raised their voice. The only reason they would yell at us would be if we were in mortal peril, if we were doing something that irked them, or if Aeri was yelling at Naruto for being, "Rokudenashi"(which, by the way, happened a lot…).

Based on the situation we were in, it was probably the first option.

We all turned to see the hunched over man lashing ou- hey… hey, was that a _tail?_

"Move!" Hermione screeched, waving her arms at a lone Durmstrang student. "You're going to b-"

Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, Aeri shoved the Durmstrang student out of the way. There was a flash of crimson—blood. Aeri was pinned to a wall by the…tail… blood pouring from her stomach.

"AERI!" I yelled, pushing my way through the crowd, but this time, in the opposite direction.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, "We can't stay here, it's dangerous! Dumbledore wants everyone in the Great Hall!"

"But, we can't just leave her!" I protested.

"Harry, _let's go!_" Hermione said, latching on to my arm and dragging me through the crowd.

And that's when I knew she was dead.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

The whole Great Hall was silent. So silent, in fact, that the sounds of the battle could be heard outside. Various screams and explosions made us flinch and wonder, although many of us were trying our best to _not _to, what kind of living nightmare was going on outside.

An hour later, Kankuro pushed through the double doors of the Great Hall (which normally took multiple people or magic to open), covered in blood.

"What happened?" someone called out, voicing the thought we each had.

Kankuro looked up tiredly. "Nothing too bad," he said after a while. "Most of the Death Eaters are dead and have been disposed of. Almost everyone got away with only minor injuries. Unfortunately, Akatsuki and a couple of Death Eaters managed to get away, but we were able to retrieve Gaara. He's fine."

"What about…" Hermione said.

"Aeri?" Kankuro asked. Everyone looked at him with intense stares.

"…She's fine," Kankuro said finally. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"She was lucky," he went on. "Sakura was able to heal her right away, and she removed the poison."

"When will she be fully healed?" another person yelled.

Kankuro shrugged. "Tomorrow morning, probably. She's always been a fast healer."

"Tomorrow? After she bled her guts out and got run through by something the width of my leg?" George whispered.

"Always knew they were weird," Fred agreed.

**Gaara's POV**

I let out a low groan as I drifted back into consciousness. _Where am I?_ I tried to sit up, finding my efforts futile. I lay back down, and decided to observe my surroundings. There were probably a dozen beds lined up on each wall, crisp while linens draping over the edges of each one. Only about four of the beds were occupied though, counting Aeri and me. Aeri! I had almost forgotten about her! I rolled over quickly, too quickly, catching a glimpse of my gourd positioned carefully on the ground. It wasn't important anyways; what was important was right in front of me.

Aeri was on her back, her shirt torn open, bandages covering her torso. Her arm was draped over the side of the bed. I longed to reach out and hold onto it for support, but I knew that I didn't have the strength.

A women dressed in a nurses' gown was tending to her, unwrapping the bandages. I almost laughed at the shock on her face when she saw Aeri's wound, very near being healed completely. All that remained was a small scab that could have been from a biking accident.

As the nurse walked away with the bloodstained bandages, I rotated on the bed and attempted to stand. My legs shook beneath me, but I somehow managed to steady myself on a bedside table.

After somehow hefting my now impossibly heavy gourd onto my back, I looked back at Aeri. Her long, dark hair was just as soft to the touch as ever. At that moment, her eyes slowly fluttered open. They lacked their usual intensity and flare, but I missed the soft side of her.

"Rise and shine!" I said with my usual lack of enthusiasm, "Feeling any better?" she moaned and tried to sit up, but lacked the strength and immediately collapsed. I helped her sit up, flinching when I first felt how cold her skin was. I waited until she had thoroughly scanned the area before she spoke.

"How long were we out?" she said with just as much authority as ever. That was the cutthroat attitude that had gotten her this far, not to mention, kept her alive. And even though she was near death, Aeri still managed to maintain it.

"Dunno, I just woke up. Can you stand?" She returned this question with a gesture that all but screamed 'Obviously not.' We sat in silence for a few minutes. She stared at everything in the room but me. I stared straight into her eyes.

"Let's go," Aeri managed, obviously wanting me to stop with the creepy staring. She stood up, but still needed a shoulder to lean on for support. Pretty convenient that we were both Jinchuuriki, otherwise this healing thing would take forever.

After stumbling down the first flight of stairs, we found a system that seemed to work. The corridors were nearly empty, besides the occasional student passing by. _Where was it that we were supposed to meet the others... Gryffindor common room?_

"Hey!" I called out to the next student that ran by. He was slightly taller than me with light brown hair — almost blond.

"Come over here." I commanded with a solemn tone. He jogged on over and looked me squarely in the eye. Somehow he reminded me of a bear, and he was probably a pedophile by the looks of him. His new name is Pedo bear. _Oh wait, he's talking… I should probably listen._

"What?" he said, straight to the point. "You guys some of those ninjas? You guys are so cool!" He laughed a bit before I cut him off.

"Where's the Gryffindor common room? We've gotta get there now, so please lead the way." He motioned for us to follow.

After what felt like a couple million staircases later, we neared a large painting that was pretty low on the wall and tall enough for a person to pass through, maybe crouching a bit if they were really tall.

"Gingerbread!" Pedo Bear yelled out, and the painting swung itself open. This place was _weird_. "In you go," he sprinted off down the hallway. I turned towards the door and saw Kiba napping inside, Akamaru lying beside his chair.

Aeri and I walked inside, the door swinging shut behind us. I let Aeri down on a particularly comfy looking couch and turned to Kiba.

"Wake up, you lazy bum." I prodded him, but he refused to budge. Akamaru, on the other hand, jumped up and gave one loud bark before settling back down. Fortunately, this awoke Kiba.

"Oh, hey there! You guys feeling better?" he asked nonchalantly.

"We're better. What's the status outside?"

"Currently at ceasefire… It could spark at any moment. You guys better heal up fast." Kiba leaned forwards and stared into the fire, obviously irritated that he was stuck in the common room until the next shift. I sat down on the oddly small couch next to Aeri. And I mean right next to Aeri. I looked over at her, expecting to see a face that said 'Back off'. Instead, she flashed an innocent smile I had not seen from her in forever. I couldn't hold back the grin that crept up on my face.

She leaned over and rested on my shoulder, and all three of us all stared into the fire. Its flames danced back and forth, whipping the air in a violent but beautiful rhythm. Aeri sat back up and looked at me again, leaning in a bit closer.

I didn't know what to think, so I leaned in a little bit also. Kiba noticed and got up silently, dragging Akamaru out of the room with him. I made a mental note to thank him before leaning in the rest of the way, our lips touching gently. It was just weird and mushy, not at all what I had expected. Either way, I felt indescribably good inside, almost good enough to stop being emo and stealing people's cookies.

Aeri leaned back on my shoulder, and I put my arm around her protectively. You never knew when you when you'd die if you lived the life of a shinobi; times like these, however brief, were to be treasured. So, time for the cliché line that's expected in these moments. Enjoy life, and spend it with those people that matter most.

Five minutes later, Kiba and Akamaru came back into the room, Kiba sitting awkwardly on a chair, fidgeting and trying to act like he didn't have a clue as to what had happened. It was pretty darn amusing.

**Kiba's POV**

_Wow, somehow I hadn't ever expected that much out of Gaara, _I thought as I sat back down in a chair, Akamaru trailing behind me. He rubbed against my leg and gave a slight cry.

"Me too, buddy," I patted him on the head, knowing what he felt. We both couldn't stand being cooped up in here, this tiny little low-roofed room. It didn't make sense anyways! Pairing me with Aeri just to stand guard? Who thought up that combination? Akamaru and I needed tons of space to fight, a lot more than this little room gave us. "We'll get out of here soon."

I turned my attention back to the two lovebirds for a minute. They just sat there quietly, staring off into the slowly dying flames. Akamaru sniffed at my feet and I knew we had to move.

"We'll see you guys later. Aka and I are going to… uh… scout the perimeter," I said. Gaara had better understand what I meant by it. "Have fun!" Akamaru and I left them in an awkward silence. The moment the picture closed behind us, Akamaru darted down the hall and nearly jumped down the staircases. I struggled to keep up with him, but was happy to be out of that cage that Hogwarts called the Gryffindor common room'.

Just as we were about to continue our mad dash around another corner, Hinata appeared from behind it. Unfortunately, Akamaru didn't see it as a reason to slow down, so he just tackled her and happily greeted her with a slobbery hello.

"Ahh! Akamaru!" I called, and he promptly responded, immediately jumping to my side. "Sorry," I said, approaching Hinata to help her up. She gladly accepted my helping arm, and wiped her face dry with her sleeve.

"Oh, It's okay," she said softly, "I love dogs, especially Akamaru." She added her usual cute smile along with the last comment, and I couldn't hold back a blush. "Have you seen Gaara around? He wasn't in the hospital wing."

"Yeah, he's in the Gryffindor room along with Aeri. Why? You need him for anything?"

"Good. I was going to ask him to switch with you. Akamaru must be starving!" I couldn't help but grin. Food was the only thing on Aka's mind and my own for the longest time, and now we'd finally get some.

Breakfast followed without incident, unless you count Aka and I both finishing off the portions that would usually support four regular people. What could I say? We were hungry.

**Half of this, heck more then half of this, was written by SHWN808. Visit his profile. HE PWNS.**

**Edited by omgninjaspazz =) you (hopefully) might just want to make my day and read one of my stories =)**

**Yeah, so leave ur comments PLZ! I LOVE COMMENTS!**

**XxSenritsuNoTenshixX**


	7. Oh Shit

**Hello!**

**I'm hoping this is a highly anticipated chapter, as I haven't updated in what, 2 months? 3?**

**But im a normal middle-school (well, not normal in the sense im doing 3 sports at once), as is my beta, so we're swamped with homework. Science labs, Romeo and Juliet readings, Chinese tests, Latin translations. You name it, we've got it. So, hope you like it!**

Chapter 7

**Aeri's POV**

I didn't remember much of the days' shift, just that it was spent protected within Gaara's arms. Besides that, however, it was a pretty dull day. The students who passed by were an entirely different story. I only heard blips of conversation, and then, suddenly, I put the pieces together— the Triwizard Tournament drawing. _Wow, I was out for a long time; it'd been a few days._

When the sun went down, the lights beginning to dim, the fireplace lit itself instantly and I jumped back, startled yet again by this place. Gaara gave a rough laugh, which was one of the few noises I had heard from him all day.

"It's okay, just the fireplace." I smiled back at him and responded with the best retort I could think of. I had to maintain my tough-leader image, after all.

"It's not like I'm scared, dummy. Just frightened, that's all."

"Sure you are."

I laughed lightly, and it brought up the mood a bit. "Hey, Gaara..."

"What?" Gaara answered just as Kiba burst through the door.

"It's time for the drawing! Let's go! Didn't you notice the students leaving?" he tapped his foot impatiently and waited for us to get moving on down to the Great Hall.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

We settled down into our seats and had another amazingly magical meal. The place was amazing! After we ate, I was too full to even think straight.

Dumbledore dimmed the lights with a flick of his wand, allowing the Goblet of Fire's flickering magenta inferno the spotlight in the room. It suddenly spewed out a piece of parchment, which gently floated on the ghost of a breeze before Dumbledore caught it in an outstretched hand.

"The champion from Beauxbaton is… Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore announced. The nearby girls cheered as a girl with platinum-blonde hair, that I assumed to be Fleur, stood up, shook Dumbledore's hand, and swept past us towards what we were told to be a basement of sorts.

Again, the Goblet spewed another piece of parchment in a shower of purple sparks.

"The champion from Dumstrang is… Victor Krum!"

A group of guys that could be accurately described with two words—dark and scary—cheered and thumped a guy on the back as he rose and disappeared in the same direction as the Fleur kid.

As the last piece of parchment was tossed into the air, it felt like the whole Great Hall leaned forward in anticipation.

Admittedly, even _I _felt myself lean in with the crowd.

"The champion from Hogwarts is… Cedric Diggory!"

The whole Great Hall roared as Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff stood up with a huge smile and departed down the stairs.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore roared. "We now have our three champions!"

But before he could go into a lengthy speech, I felt an all too familiar invisible needle stab my brain. At first, I ignored it, as I had for the past couple of days. That little stab is someone's changing emotions, a little trick I had picked up. People's emotions get screwed up so much around here – a student gets detention, they get a pop quiz, no homework, etc - that I had learned to ignore it. But when I looked up, I realized what was wrong.

The Goblet was going haywire – a spiral of flames encircled it, causing everyone within a five-foot radius of it to jump backwards. Within the purple flames, a fourth, slightly charred piece of parchment was blasted into the air. Dumbledore caught it gingerly and stared at it for a couple of seconds before whispering the name so quietly that I was sure my teammates and I were the only ones who could hear it.

"Harry Potter."

Oh shit.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

"I'm telling you, I didn't do it!" Harry protested as all of the big, important looking people crowded around him, arguing in hushed tones.

"Ah, but he eez lying!" Madame Maxine said, "He eez too young!"

"Pardon me," I said, "But as I was told, the age rule was only enforced 'cuz some kid way back when was killed."

"That is true…" some guy on the other side of the room muttered.

"Any anyways, I believe Harry!" I continued. "WHY would someone be _happy_ when the Goblet nearly exploded in your faces? _Why_ was someone _happy_ when a fourteen year old got chosen for one of the most dangerous competitions in your world? _Why_ the hell would Harry want to even be a part of a competition that he has all but no chance of winning?" I burst out, not even considering the fact that they didn't know about my ability to read others' emotions.

"How, Miss Aeri, can you tell someone's emotions without even knowing whose emotions they are? And how do you know that they were happy?" some important looking dude asked. I really needed to learn the names of these people, especially ones like him.

"Just a little trick I've picked up," I responded. "I can sense changing emotions. And this person was definitely happy."

"But anyways, this means that someone out _on the grounds of this school _is out to severely injure, possibly to even _kill _Potter. We already guard these floors 24/7, and no one out of the ordinary has gone in or out of the grounds. There is a traitor among us. They could be a Death Eater, or possibly even Akatsuki."

"What is 'Akatsuki'?" Fleur asked from the other side of the room, making the word sound ridiculous with her heavy accent.

"Akatsuki is a group of rouge ninja who got together to wreak havoc on the world, partially due to the influence of a guy named Orochimaru—who is an evil maniac, by the way. They target the nine bijuu—tailed demons that are sealed inside of a shinobi to keep them under control. We don't know what Akatsuki wants them for, but we do know that with all nine of the bijuu, they'd be all but invincible."

"You seem to be rather knowledgeable on the subject," Igor Karcough growled.

"Personal experience," I answered smoothly. "Gaara and I are hosts to two of the nine bijuu, Shukaku and Houkou."

"You _have _the demon inside of you?" Krum asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," I contemplated telling them a condensed version of my life story, but decided against it. They already knew I was a demon, informing them that their head guard was a test subject wouldn't really make them feel much better. "Long story.

"My point is, Akatsuki, the members of which have absolutely no problems with killing children in the most brutal of ways, has definitely joined up with this Voldemort guy to, pretty much, take over the world. All in all, we're screwed…"

**I've done it! It took me 5 45-minute study hall periods and me staying up till 10 for 3 nights, but I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER! Dnt worry, i'll keep writing!**

**Pls review! Its super easy! It took me 2 months to make this chapter! Tell me how much it sucks, or how good it is, or how pissed you are for waiting so long!**

**XxSenritsuNoTenshixX**

**Oh, and by the way…**

**YOU JUST LOST THE GAME! XP**

**(You're probably reaaaaally pissed right now. Understandable. XD)**


	8. This Can't Go On

**Hehe. Sorry 'bout last chapter. Couldn't help myself xD It won't happen again, I **_**PROMISE.**_

**Anyways, here is another installment. I'm sorry, like **_**really **_**sorry I can't get these out faster. I'm really busy with homework and all. I just made the soccer team as well, and my birthday was in October, so it's been really hectic.**

**And, I'm also gonna say that this will probably be co-edited by SHWN808 from now on. He has been writing little bits in my chapters and I wanna say thanks!**

**Oh, and I changed my Pen name. I am now NightFury808. :P (How to train ur dragon! **J**)**

**Enough with that, let's get to the chapter!**

Chapter 8

"This can't go on Albus," Professor McGonagall murmured as we watched Dumbledore gaze into a basin of silver liquid. "First the Dark Mark, now this?"

"What do you suggest, Minerva? Aeri?" he asked us, never taking his eyes off of the shimmering substance.

"Put an end to it," she said matter-of-factly, "don't let Potter compete."

"Um, I'm going to have to second that," I mumbled.

"Why, Miss Hyuuga?" Snape drawled.

"In our world, there is a sort of 'right of passage' for ninja called the Chūnin Exams," I said calmly. "It consists of a written exam, a survival course, and a hand-to-hand combat round. I have to say, this Tournament reminds me a lot of our exams back home."

"And what is so dangerous about that?" Snape asked. _Jeez, _I thought to myself, _this guy _really _hates me._

"All of them test your abilities, pushing them to the max," I responded. "The written test is designed to test how well you can function under pressure as well as to test your stealth skills. The test is designed to be impossible to answer on your own, forcing you to cheat off of proctors that are mixed into the group for the sole purpose of providing a target to cheat off of. If you get caught cheating five times, you get kicked out.

"45 minutes into the test, one of the proctors asks everyone if they would like to answer a 10th and final question. If you got the question wrong, you and your whole team would remain genin forever. If you didn't want to take the question, you and your team were told to leave."

"What was question 10?" Moody questioned.

"The question was a trick, of sorts. It was a question _about_ the question. Every year, it's something like 'Will you answer this question, or leave in fear of staying a genin forever?' Anyone who answers that they will risk taking the question and stays moves on to the next round.

"The next challenge is the survival challenge. Each team is given a scroll, either Heaven or Earth. The task each team is given is to obtain the scroll they don't have, and make it to a tower in the center of the arena. So pretty much, they have to travel how many miles, while trying to get a scroll from other teams. And, let me tell you, they don't call it the 'Forest of Death' for nothing.

"The last test is a simple one on one, hand to hand combat round. The proctors randomly pair you with someone else who made it through the second test and you have to fight until your opponent surrenders, they are unable to fight, or…they die."

"A fight to the death? But you're only children!" McGonagall gasped.

I shrugged, memories of some of the more gruesome battles flashing through my mind. "Yeah. There have been some pretty nasty fights, too. Like, I accidentally killed that guy in my exam… then there was that one that got eaten by a snake…"

McGonagall shuddered.

"And, winning your matches doesn't mean you'll become a chūnin," I continued, trying to ignore the flood of memories, "It just gives you a better chance to show off your skills. Shikamaru and I were the only two people who became chūnin at our first exam, but that's only 'cuz the person who was judging us was killed in a by Orochimaru."

"So, basically, children are killing each other for what?" McGonagall asked… she look frightened. Hah.

"Kids in our world are considered adults when they are genin, whether they are six or 16. And there are some damn good six year olds. So, basically, we fight for respect from our peers."

"But, isn't it a little rash to fight over respect?" McGonagall said, eyes wide.

"Yeah, maybe. Naruto had it a lot worse off than the rest of us. He fought for respect from the _whole_ village. Took him a while to earn it, too. But we're ninja. For all I know, we might get attacked right now, and I might die without knowing what hit me. That's the mentality that almost all shinobi have; when we have something we want to protect, we'll die for it."

"But you heard Barty, and the rules are clear." Dumbledore said, exasperated at how off topic we had gotten.

"Well, the devil with Barty, and his rules. And since when did you accommodate the Ministry?" McGonagall asked, walking over to Dumbledore.

"Yeah, even I have to agree with that. Rules are meant for breaking." I argued.

"Headmaster, I, too, find it difficult to believe this mere coincidence," Snape said. "However, if we are to truly discover the meaning of these events, perhaps we should, for the time being… let them unfold."

"What-? Do nothing? Offer him up as bait?" McGonagall gasped.

"To hell with that idea!" I yelled. "For the success of this mission, it is my job to keep him safe! Take him out! We already have enough to worry about!"

"I agree. With Severus," Dumbledore muttered absently. "Alastor, Aeri, keep your eye on Harry, will you?"

"I can do that," Moody growled.

I gave an irritated sigh. "Fine," I growled. "But I'm not happy with this…"

"Don't let him know, though," Dumbledore added in the same far off tone, "He must be anxious enough as it is… knowing what lies ahead."

As he said this, he placed his wand tip on his temple, drawing out the same silvery liquid as before. The liquids swirled together in the stony basin, contrasting brightly in a weird, but somehow mesmerizing way.

"Then again… we all are."

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

I climbed through the portrait hole into the common room to see Gaara and Kiba sitting on the couch.

"Hey, what's the verdict?" Kiba immediately asked when I walked in. I could hear the nervous edge in his voice.

"Potter's gonna compete," I sighed, repressing my urge to punch someone's face in. "We're supposed to watch him throughout the tournament and make sure he doesn't get too badly messed up," I groaned, "As we didn't already have enough to worry about, with Orochimaru and Akatsuki being after him already!"

I plopped down on the couch next to Gaara, rubbing my temples.

"We need to add this to the monthy report," I grumbled. "Tsunade will want to know what kind of crap's going on over here."

"Hey, can I talk to you guys?" a voice called out cautiously, interrupting my rant.

We all turned our heads to the staircase to see Harry timidly walking towards us.

"Sure thing. Have a seat, buddy," Kiba smiled, working to keep up his friendly and worry-free mask.

"What's on your mind, kid?" I asked after he sat down. "You had a fight with Ron, right?"

"Wha- how'd you know?" Harry stuttered.

"Aeri and Kiba've got the best hearing in the country," Gaara said. "They could hear a cough in the Great Hall from here."

"Anyways, what's up?" Kiba questioned.

"What's the story about the jinchuuriki?" he blurted out.

"Do you really want to hear our long super-boring life story?" I asked. "It's filled with blood and gore and it'll probably give you nightmares."

"Well, no, I just… what's it like being different?" he asked.

"Ohhhh, is that what this is about?" I said. He nodded.

"Well, basically, in the history of our world, the Jinchuuriki have been used as weapons of mass destruction. Villagers don't trust them, which makes for a pretty dang harsh childhood. I mean, most parents don't want their kids playing with the person who'd probably be responsibly for the destruction of the next village over.

"As a result, you end up like Naruto – fighting for acceptance; a stubborn person who won't give up. Or, you could end up like Gaara—a cold, killing machine. But, he's a lot better than he used to be."

"And what about you?" Harry asked.

"I was kidnapped when I was 3," I said. "And held hostage till I was 9. That's when I killed everyone and ran like hell. I ended up lost in a desert for half a year, but I made it to Suna where I lived for the next couple of years. But, when some Leaf Nin came by and saw who I was, they took me back, and the rest is history. I guess I turned out alright."

"That answer your question, kid?" Kiba yawned, stretching luxuriously.

"I guess," Harry shrugged. "Got any advice for me?"

"Just find some quality friends you can stick with," I said. "It gets better, trust me."

"Ok…" Harry replied. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Ok. G'night," I replied.

"Don't be attacked by rogue nin in your sleep!" Kiba called towards the staircase Harry had disappeared up.

"Kiba!" I gasped, slapping him. "That poor kid has enough to deal with! And, rogue nin are nothing to joke about!"

"Yeah?" he shot back. "And you would known how?"

"Try waking up strapped to a chair with a knife at your throat," I replied icily, "only to be told that you already have had poison injected into your bloodstream."

"Oh."

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

**Harry's POV**

I sat by myself at the Gryffindor table, silently eating my breakfast. Ron was still mad at me for 'putting my name in the Goblet without growing a beard', and Hermione had followed suit.

"Man, these waffles are dry."

I stifled a surprised yelp as I fell backwards off the bench I was sitting on. That obviously earned a number of weird stares. When I regained balance, I saw that Aeri, Hinata, and Shikamaru were sitting on the bench, eating. Or, rather, Aeri and Hinata were eating. Shikamaru had fallen asleep in a puddle of syrup.

"How'd you guys get here?" I hissed. "You can't apparate on school grounds!"

"Ok," Aeri said, still stuffing her face. "When I figure out how to 'apparate' or whatever, I'll make a mental note not to."

"B-b-but then, what the heck was that?" I stuttered.

"Um… running?" she said, mouth full of half chewed waffles.

"Running?" I asked in disbelief. "How can anyone _possibly _run that fast?"

"Yes," Hinata mumbled, "We focus chakra in our feet, allowing us to dash across water, walk up walls, or run at super speeds."

"Mmmmm…" Shikamaru groaned, his face still buried in waffles and syrup.

"Shikamaru, wake up!" Aeri ordered, making a slight effort to poke him awake, "Your face is in the syrup. And besides, where is the report we need to give Tsunade-sama?"

"…Common room…" he mumbled.

"Oh, great," Aeri sighed. "And I have no idea to get there, and 'cuz Shikamaru won't get his face out of the plate…"

"You could ask a Ravenclaw to go get it for you," I suggested.

"Sure, like we would want some kid around _that_ many explosives and sharp pointy objects," she retorted. "Nah, I got it covered. Can you get me a knife?"

"Um, sure?" I said, grabbing a knife from a vacant seat beside me.

"Thanks," she said, grabbing the hilt confidently. With a sudden downward slice, she neatly slit her palm open, blood already oozing out of the wound.

"What are you doing?" I yelled, grabbing napkins around me.

"Relax," She said indifferently. The shouting had arisen growing interest from the tables around us. Students were watching in shock as they saw the blood dripping from the guard's hand. "The summoning jutsu requires blood."

"What?" I asked, still in shock.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_" she yelled, placing her bloody hand on the ground. Thin, squiggly black lines began snaking out from the place where her palm touched the ground—first forming a circle and then moving outwards.

After the lines stopped moving, a puff of smoke hid Aeri from view. When it cleared, the black lines were gone, but in their place stood a small, golden brown fox.

"Hello Eimei," She greeted, scratching behind its ears.

To all of our surprise, _it talked back._

"Hello, master," it replied.

"I need you to go to the Ravenclaw common room, where Shikamaru and Temari are staying," she said slowly. "Go into Shikamaru's bag, and get our report for Tsunade-sama and bring it back."

"Of course," Eimei replied, bounding out of the Great Hall.

"What in Merlin's beard was that?" Hermione asked, gaping.

"Summoning Jutsu," Aeri replied, shrugging. "You make a blood contract with an animal, and after some practice, you're able to summon it whenever you like."

Hermione looked like she had a million more questions, but at that moment, Eimei returned with a scroll clamped it its jaws.

"Thank you," Aeri said, taking the scroll from the fox. While she read through the contents, the fox leapt up onto the table, crouched down near Aeri's plate, and started to tear away at her piece of bacon.

"Ok, this looks good," Aeri declared, rolling up the scroll again. "Hinata, do you have the bird?"

Hinata nodded, and after doing a series of quick hand signs, produced a wooden, wind-up bird.

Aeri placed the scroll in the bird's open mouth, then wound the spring on its back. Within a couple of seconds, it had flown out the window.

"Well, that was a great breakfast," Aeri said, standing up. "But, I gotta go. Ja ne."

She put her middle and index fingers together, kind of like a finger gun without the thumb, and pressed them to her mouth. In a puff of smoke, she was gone.

"Shikamaru-san…" Hinata mumbled, shaking Shikamaru's shoulder. "A-ano… you need to get up. You have syrup on your face…"

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

I was sitting in Potions with Hermione and Neville, making some sort of concoction that had turned out to the color of puke, when a cheery voice was heard from the middle of the dungeon.

"Hello!"

Some of the girls shrieked and leapt off of their stools, spilling mixtures of various colors, while the rest of us turned to look at the girl who had mysteriously appeared without the use of a door. Turns out, it was Ino.

"Can I help you, Miss Yamanaka?" Snape asked, annoyed that his class had been interrupted.

"Yeah, but, really. Must I be the one to introduce you to this thing called shampoo? Toothpaste?" Ino said, smirking slightly.

The whole class gave quiet snickers and chuckles, angering Snape further.

"What do you require? If you have come here with the sole purpose of making petty insults, I must request that you please leave my classroom," Snape said icily.

"I need Potter to grab his stuff and come with me," she said sweetly. "Headmaster's orders."

"Fine," he said. "Potter, go with Miss Yamanaka."

I hurriedly gathered my stuff and, with an apologetic look at Hermione and Neville, hurried after Ino.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK **

**Aeri's POV**

"HEY, brought him!" Ino yelled as she stepped into the room full of whirring, ticking contraptions. The other three champions were bunched together nervously.

"Nice job, Ino," I said, motioning for Potter to join the other champions. "And, you used the insult, I presume."

"Yup," she said, grinning evilly. "You shoulda seen his face. I doubt he'll be messing with us for a while."

We burst into laughter.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

**Harry's POV**

On Saturday night, I crept down the stairs to the common room. Sirius had said we needed to talk, face-to-face, alone. I contemplated how hard that would be, as the ninja slept in the common room. In the end, I just decided that if we talked quietly, we should be fine.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I cautiously peeked around. Kiba and the overly sized dog were nowhere to be seen, but Aeri was curled up next to Gaara on the couch. Both were sound asleep.

"Sirius?" I hissed. He wasn't anywhere in the common room, as far as I could see.

Walking around the common room, I spied one of the Daily Prophet newspapers, with my face on the front page. The headlines read, 'Teenage Trouble: Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament."

I picked it up, immediately finding the start of the article. I began to read.

_Harry Potter, age twelve. Suspected foul play associated with his entry into the Triwizard Tournament…_

_His eyes swimming with the ghost of his past, and choking back tears…_

I quickly crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the fire. Nothing but lies!

"Potter?"

I quickly turned to see Gaara's eyes trained on me.

"What are you doing?" he asked in his low, monotone voice.

"Um…" I stammered. "I was… er… I though you were asleep!"

"Shukaku prevents me from sleeping," he replied softly, remaining almost perfectly still. "Insomnia. But, besides that, what are you doing here?"

"Um… Oh, alright, I was…er…uhm…" I struggled for an explanation.

"Psst!" I nearly had a heart attack as the oddly familiar voice rung out from behind me.

We both focused our eyes on the fire to see – to my great surprise – Sirius' head emerge from the glowing embers.

"What's going on?" Gaara asked, sand swirling around him as he speedily stood from the chair, somehow managing to not wake Aeri.

"My godfather," I replied hastily, noticing the fierce expression on Gaara's face. "Sirius, how-"

"I don't have much time," he whispered hastily. "So let me get straight to it. Can he be trusted?" he asked, motioning his head to Gaara.

"Yeah," I said. "He can. What's this about?"

"Harry, did you or did you not put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Sirius whispered urgently, his voice hoarse.

"No!" I whispered a little too loudly.

"Shhh…" Gaara said, motioning to Aeri and the staircase.

"I had to ask," Sirius continued apologetically. "Now, tell me about this dream of yours. You mentioned Wormtail and Voldemort. But who was the third man in the room?"

"I dunno," I admitted.

"You didn't hear a name?"

"No. Voldemort was giving him a job to do. Something important."

"And what was that?" Sirius asked.

"He wanted… me," I admitted. "I don't know why. But he was gonna use this man to get to me. But, I mean, it was only a dream, right?"

"No," Gaara cut in sharply. "Dreams are powerful things where we come from. If what you say is true… this could be bad."

"What?" I shout-whispered.

"Shhhh!"

"Look, Harry," Sirius finally said. "The Death Eaters at the World Cup, your name rising from that Goblet, these are not just coincidences. Hogwarts is not safe anymore."

"What are you saying?" I asked, seriously confused.

"I'm saying the devils are inside the walls," he explained hurridly. "Igor Karakoff? He was a Death Eater. And no one, no one stops being a Death Eater."

"And we also have information that Akatsuki has joined with Voldemort," Gaara whispered. "They're hunting down something…something big."

"Great," I said. "Now two evil guys want to kill me."

"Then there's Barty Crouch," Sirius continued. "Heart of stone. Sent his own son to Azkaban."

There was a movement behind us; it sounded like someone was creeping down the stairs.

"Do you think one of them put my name in the Goblet?" I asked urgently.

"I haven't a clue who put your name in that goblet, but whoever did is no friend to you," Sirius said worriedly. "People die in this tournament."

I gulped. "I'm not ready for this," I said, distressed.

"You don't have a choice," Sirius said.

I turned to see a shadow moving steadily down the staircase. Someone was coming.

"Keep your friends close, Harry!" Sirius called softly as I stood up.

"Who were you talking to?" Ron asked sleepily.

"Uh… Gaara," I said, lying through my teeth.

"I didn't hear him talking," Ron said coldly.

"Maybe you're hearing things," I retorted. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"…You're probably just practicing for your next interview, I expect," he sneered, walking back up the steps.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Gaara. "I didn't… I mean, I…"

"Don't worry," he said, cutting me off. "Aeri said that we'd be here to listen, and ninja don't go back on their promises."

I stood quietly for a moment, taking in what Gaara had just said.

"Thanks," I whispered.

What in Merlin's beard had I gotten myself into?

**Da daaaaahhhh! I'm DOOOONNNEEE with the chapter! xD**

**So, I did the math. This story gets about 200 hits per chapter, and I get 1-3 reviews per chapter. Doing the math, that means every 65-100 people, someone reviews. Is it that hard to review? I'd like to get a chapter with more then 5 reviews, PLEASE?**

**Beta'd by omgninjaspazz xD**

**NightFury808**


	9. Dragons, Dammit

**There is a lot of Japanese in this chapter. xD If any of you can figure out what im trying to say, note me. If not, just ask and I'll tell you next chapter. xDDDDD**

Chapter 9

**Harry's POV**

"Did you bring yer father's cloak, like I asked you?" Hagrid asked as we walked through a part of the Hogwarts grounds I had never set foot in.

"Yeah, I brought the cloak," I said exasperatedly, trying to match Hagrid's fast gait. "Hagrid, where are we going?"

"You'll see soon enough," he said, staring off into the trees, distracted. "Now pay attention, this is important."

"Hey, what's with the flower?" I questioned suspiciously as I noticed the rather exotic looking flower in his coat pocket, and the tiny teeth from a comb that had apparently broken off into his disarrayed hair. "Hagrid, have you _combed your hair_?"

"As a matter of fact, I 'ave," Hagrid said, somewhat defensively. "You might like to try the same thing now and again."

Suddenly, a faint, what sounded like a _roar_, echoed through the dense forest. I stopped and glanced around nervously, trying to see what had made such a sound. It was the middle of nowhere. What the bloody hell could be out here?

"The cloak," Hagrid said, rather urgently. "Put the cloak on!"

"All right," I grumbled, still rather confused about this situation.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

Now, the answer to the many questions I had.

First off, why did Hagrid comb his hair? And, what was with that huge flower?

Simple. He was on a _date_ with _Madame Maxine_. Who would've guessed? Well, everyone. But, it was still an…interesting combination.

Now, what were they doing out here? What the bloody hell was going on? And, why did I hear that roar?

Yet another simple answer.

_Dragons_.

Four extremely large, extremely dangerous dragons. Each one could breathe fire, had fangs the size of my entire leg, and looked like they wanted to kill someone.

In a momentary fit of fury and disbelief, I stuck my head out of my Invisibility Cloak.

"Dragons?" I hissed over the roaring and sizzling sounds coming from the clearing ahead. "That's the first task? You're joking!"

"Come on, Harry," Hagrid said. "Look, the ninja are handling just fine."

It was true; I could see them darting around, using their 'jutsu' to contain these dragons.

**"Raiton: Shichū Shibari!" **Aeri yelled out, doing a quick series of hand motions. In a split second, four gigantic pillars of rock shot out of the ground. An electrical current ran through them, trapping the four fiery beasts in a giant electric cage.

I felt my jaw drop. How the bloody hell did she do that? I mean, I was used to seeing some pretty insane stuff from the ninjas. But this was just amazing. She made a bunch of rocks and electricity appear out of nowhere! And _without a wand_.

**"Naruto! Midori no izure ka o teikuauto! Wareware wa te ga michite iru!" **Aeri shouted, hands still tightly clasped together.

Naruto nodded and then, to my sheer and utter surprise, another Naruto appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"The bloody hell…" I gaped, watching as the two Narutos ran to face the dragon. Really, you'd think you'd get used to this type of thing after a while.

As they were running, a blue and white ball of light appeared in between their hands. At the last minute, they jumped higher than what seemed humanly possible.

**"Rasengan!" **They both shouted, ramming the ball of light al the dragon's skull. I saw Hagrid flinch.

Now, either that was an extremely strong light, or not a light at all, but that thing caused an explosion.

When all the smoke and debris cleared, the dragon was unconscious.

"They didn't have to do that to get it to calm down," Hagrid grumbled. "These are seriously misunderstood creatures."

A dragon suddenly lashed out with its tail, sending Ino flying into a nearby tree.

Hagrid and I both winced.

"Although," Hagrid said, "I have to admit, that Horntail is a right nasty piece of work. Poor Ron nearly fainted at the sight of him, you know."

I looked up in confusion and disbelief. "Ron was here?"

"Oh, sure," Hagrid said dismissively. "His brother Charlie helped to bring 'em over from Romania."

Hagrid looked down at me. "Didn't Ron tell you that?"

I shook my head, anger welling up inside of me. "No, he didn't. He didn't tell me a _thing_."

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

A couple days after the dragon incident, I went searching for Cedric. Yeah, I know, champions aren't supposed to know anything about the task, but there was a good chance that Krum and Fleur would learn about the dragons soon enough. Just to be fair to Cedric.

These 'Potter Stinks' badges were really getting on my nerves. Nearly everyone had one, and they all just had to shove it in my face, literally and figuratively.

As I tried to get the garden where Cedric was, a group of seventh years blocked my path.

"Like the badge?" The eldest asked smugly.

"Excuse me," I said between gritted teeth, shoving my way through them.

"Could I have a word?" I politely asked Cedric, ignoring his group of followers and their stupid badges.

"All right," Cedric shrugged, following me into the shade of a tree.

I wasted no time. As soon as he was facing me, I got straight to the point.

"Dragons. That's the first task."

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

I angrily watched as Ron stalked away with Seamus, still angry at him for not telling me about the dragons.

"Why so tense, Potter?"

I glanced up, then exasperatedly began walking away, seeing that it was none other then Draco Malfoy, perched in a tree.

"My father and I have a bet, you see," he continued, not even caring if I was listening or not. "I don't think you're gonna last 10 minutes in this tournament."

I stopped walking.

"He disagrees," Malfoy drawled, jumping out of the tree and landing lightly on his feet. Oh, how I wished he fell flat on his butt. "He thinks you won't last five."

"I don't give a damn what your father thinks, Malfoy." I lashed out, angrily shoving him. "He's vile and cruel. And you're just pathetic."

I turned around and walked away, tired of Malfoy's snobbish taunting.

"Pathetic?" I heard him mutter angrily. Little did I know, he was drawing his wand, a hex already forming on his tongue.

He never got the chance.

"Oh, no, you don't!"

I quickly whipped around to see Aeri perched high in a tree, higher then anyone here would ever dare to go.

She made a quick hand seal and pointed her finger at Malfoy, a slight grin on her face.

In a whirl of smoke, Malfoy shrunk, changed color, and transformed in appearance.

Aeri turned him into a ferret.

"Serves you right," she scolded, jumping off her perch and picking him up by the tail, looking at him straight in the eye. "Only I'm allowed to attack someone when their back is turned."

"Hey, Aeri, did you know that the paintings are ticklish?" Naruto said, oblivious of what was happening, despite all of the shouting and laughter. "I mean, you can reach out and **AHHHH! Jigoku kara akuma no yōna neko!"**

Naruto went face to face with Malfoy, a seriously irked look on his face.

**"Wareware wa, futatabi neko o mitashite imasu…" **He hissed.

Aeri sighed. **"Naruto, Neregui o oboete, atarashii tochi ni Temujin to issho ni itta? Soreni, kare wa, neko de wa nai ferettodeshita."**

**"Sono koto wa watashi o kiratte!" **Naruto wailed. **"Sore wa sukoshi watashi to watashi no kizu, sore wa jibun no wana ni makikoma ni watashi o damashite!"**

**"Hai, sore dake de anata wa genin sa reta toki, anata wa mada bakadatta sa remashita." **Aeri said dismissively. **"Tonikaku, kore wa gakuseidesu."**

"Aeri!" Professor McGonagall fretted, rushing over to where I was standing. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just showing the students my justu," Aeri said a little too innocently. "I can change objects into whatever I want it to be… Such as, this ferret could have previously been a log, or a clump of grass, or a little whiny girl…"

"Is that – Is that a student?" McGonagall gasped.

"Yeah, well, technically, it's a ferret."

With a firm wave of her wand, she turned Malfoy back into a human, looking disheveled and mentally scarred.

He quickly leapt to his feet, and when he came face to face with Aeri, he flinched and retreated.

"My father will hear about this!" he spat angrily.

"Is that a threat?" Aeri said smugly. "You can't touch me; everyone here is under a contract signed by Dumbledore himself."

"Aeri," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "We _never_ use transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Dumbledore told you that."

"On the contrary, our mission is to oversee this competition, and to protect the boy," she said, gesturing to me. "I've been given the permission to deal with persecutors however I wish."

McGonagall gave her a deep frown before turning and shooing everyone away.

"You, come with me."

I turned to see Professor Moody walking away with his walking stick, not even making sure I was following. When had he gotten there? Before I hurried after him, I turned around to watch Aeri and Naruto walk away, deep in discussion. But before they walked into the corridor, I think she turned and winked at me. But before I could even think about it, she was walking away.

"So, about those paintings…"

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

November 24.

The 1st task.

The four of us competitors were mulling around in the champions tent. The roars of the dragons waiting for us just outside the tent were too much for most of us. We were nervous to the point that we couldn't even sit down.

After Hermione had attacked me with a hug, and after that annoying Rita Skeeter women came in and made up stories about the champions, it was time for the task to start.

I had a plan. Ok, I admit, it wasn't even a plan. I was more of an idea that, if executed correctly, would get me out of this mess alive. But I was still nervous. How could you not be when you were going into an arena with gigantic dragon with nothing more then a wand and a summoning spell that, mind you, I wasn't even sure would work.

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

The next two hours were torturous. Every noise from the arena, every comment made by Dumbledore… I was able to hear it all from the tent. Soon, I was the only champion left.

"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons," Dumbledore's voice rang out. "And so each one of them will proceed to the next task. And now, our fourth and final contestant."

I slowly rose to my feet.

Here we go.

**Well, that was fun.**

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**NightFury808**

**PS – I love my editor. YOU ROCK! xD**


	10. The 1st Task

**Hehe… don't hurt me?**

**I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner! School has been crazy, and with sports and my deviantART and schoolwork and summer school and being sick for two freaking weeks and not having a laptop for a week on top of that, I haven't had a lot of time to work on this… so sorryyyyyy!**

**There is a POLL ON MY PROFILE. PLEASE TAKE IT.**

**In the last chapter, when Naruto is yelling at the ferret (xDDDDDD) he's basically saying how much this OTHER ferret called Neregui that looks kinda like him hated him. Watch **_**The Stone of Gelel **_**for more info.**

**Ok, we're in double-digit chapters now! HUZZAH! For the record, this in one of the first times this has happened… I think…**

**On a side note, JAPAN WON THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP! xDDDDDD**

**THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWZ!**

Chapter 10

**Harry's POV**

I lay on my bed, staring at the golden egg that lay on the bedside table beside me. A lot had happened today. I had fought a dragon. I had nearly gotten the Gryffindor Common Room's ears blasted off. And, most importantly, I made up with Ron. I still couldn't believe I actually survived in the arena with that unnerving Hungarian Horntail. I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander back to memories of the battle.

**FLASHBACK**

_The crowd enthusiastically chanted my name as I stepped out into the rocky arena. I warily looked around, searching for the dragon and my target, the egg. I spotted a golden glint off to my right, and started to walk towards it, my hand slightly outstretched with the naïve idea that I would be able to simply walk over and retrieve the glittering ticket to victory._

_Big mistake._

_I leapt backwards as a huge, spiked THING attacked my left side with a burst of red flames. I whirled around to see my second target, the dragon._

_It let out a deafening roar and, again, let out a blast of flames from its mouth. I leaped over a rock, desperately trying to avoid getting burned to a crisp and/or squashed like a bug._

_Someone in the stands was shouting frantically to me—I think it was Hermione. Something about my wand…_

"Accio Firebolt!" _I yelled, using the spell that I had practiced endlessly in preparation for this very moment. Before I could see if this spell had__ even__ worked, the oncoming Horntail continued to spew red-hot flames, forcing me backwards to avoid getting burnt to a blackened crisp. In the distance, I saw what looked like… a __small__ bird? No, it was my Firebolt! But, before I could move, the Horntail let out yet another horrifying shriek as the flames from its sharply toothed mouth started to actually melt the cracked, brown rock I was hiding behind._

_I swallowed nervously, feeling the oncoming heat begin to singe my sleeves. At the last minute, before the rock, I don't know, exploded or something, I hoped that luck was on my side and leapt into the air…_

_Right onto my Firebolt, narrowly dodging yet another stream of fire from the Horntail. Jeez, how could the thing not have melted its own throat by now?_

**Aeri's POV… BUT IT'S STILL A FLASHBACK**

_**"He's up!" **__I shouted happily over the roar of the crowd. Around the arena, my team cheered along with the rest of the students as we watched Harry rise steadily on his broomstick. How the hell he stayed afloat on that flimsy sticks of wood, I'd never know. But never mind that._

_Anyways, my team was spread out around the rim of the arena, closely watching the action for any signs of trouble…Well, trouble that wasn't supposed to be there._

_The audience shrieked as the Horntail spread its gigantic wings and attempted to take flight. Everyone let out a united sigh of relief as they realized that the chain around the Horntail's neck prevented it from getting more than a few dozen feet off of the ground._

_**"Aeri, there's no way that dragon can get loose, yeah?" **__Ino shouted at me from my right._

_**"Positive!" **__I shouted back. __**"I double and triple checked; it would take shinobi strength, at the least, to break it!"**_

_We all watched again as the dragon tried to take flight a second and third time. Each time the thick chain jerked it harshly back towards the earth._

_But on the fourth try…_

_**"Aeri, do you see that?" **__Neji screamed from my left._

_I turned my head sharply to get a better view. A thin blue thread of chakra was dancing around, flickering between visibility and the realm of the unseen…but what in the world…_

_**"What's it doing?" **__I yelled. __**"Ino, you see anything?"**_

_**"Nothing!" **__she yelled back. __**"It must be invisible!"**_

_I watched it in unadulterated horror as it leapt towards the dragon's neck._

_**"It's cutting the chains!" **__I realized, leaping up from my post. __**"Neji! Kiba! After him!"**_

_They both nodded, dodging between unknowing, screaming fans to follow our mystery man._

_**"Aeri, you might wanna try going after that dragon!" **__Ino screamed, watching as the scaly beast broke free and finally took flight. The crowd broke out into petrified shrieks._

_**"I'm on it!" **__I yelled back, darting along the rim of the arena, leaping at the last moment onto the dragon's back._

_Holy Shiznits._

_Now, I know being and ANBU and all, I'm not supposed to be scared of stuff easily._

_But humans are NOT, NOT, __**NOT**__ meant to be flying._

_That is a SURE fact._

_**"Holy crap, get me off this thing!" **__I screamed, clutching the scaly hide of the dragon for dear life, completely forgetting my mission, as the dragon raced forward in pursuit._

_At least from up here, I could see where Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru were running as they tried to find our invisible foe. It looked like they were headed to the forbidden forest…_

_Carefully inching my way around, clutching onto any handholds I could find, I cautiously peeked over the dragon's head. It was still in pursuit of Harry, its opponent, chasing him in circles around the school._

_And I was on its back._

_I peered down below me; there were a couple of school buildings that I could leap onto and (hopefully) stick a landing, but for the most part, if I leapt now, I'd probably be looking at a broken neck, and no means of getting to the others._

_Mother-fucking fuck._

**Harry's POV**

_My original plan? Get my broom. Do some fancy tricks. Confuse the dragon. Get the egg. It would take fifteen minutes. Tops._

_But no. This dragon had decided to rip itself free from chains that were double and triple checked on strength, and send me desperately flying for my life around Hogwarts._

_No wonder people had died in this competition…_

_I looked over my shoulder, trying to see how far behind the Horntail was. It roared and snapped at me, but something jumping off it's back caught my eye._

_"Aeri?" I gasped._

_She looked at me, her eyes wide, "Potter, careful!"_

_I nodded and began to loop around the Gryffindor tower only to have the dragon's spiked tail whip me right off my broom and onto the roof of the tower._

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed as I slid down the roof, trying desperately to grab anything that might slow my descent. This is it. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, this is the end…_

_By some luck, my fingers latched onto a windowsill on the way down, and I hung on for dear life. Gasping, I struggled to pull myself back up while watching the Horntail land much more gracefully on the tower._

_Scooting myself around the ledge, I quickly located my Firebolt, hanging on another windowsill just under mine. Unfortunately, I was too busy thinking of falling off the tower and the Horntail slowly advancing on me to notice the spike that was holding me up slowly rip away from the wood._

_And then it popped._

_I plummeted onto the window below me, the one with my Firebolt lodged on it. Unfortunately, the wood I would have used as a ledge for my feet broke, and I was once again dangling by my fingertips._

_Struggling for a foothold, I looked up, to only see the Horntail slowly making its way towards me._

_I pulled myself onto the ledge, and attempted to pull my Firebolt free. But, to my dismay, it was stuck._

_With a mighty roar, the Horntail snapped at me, completely annihilating the window I was clutching onto. Guess who was falling? AGAIN._

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed yet again, somehow managing to mount my broomstick. I took off, soaring through the school, the Horntail hot on my tail._

_Through a gap in the building, I could see a bridge, one with small arches. Could that be my savior?_

_Quickly changing course, I went for the bridge. I just had to make sure I managed to safely get through one of the arches…_

_"I must be mad," I muttered quietly to myself, hurtling forward._

_Moments before I passed through the bridge, the dragon snapped it's huge mouth at my broom, causing my to loose my crucial balance._

_With yet another scream, I bumped against the arches. The dragon was not as lucky; it crashed loudly into the stone bridge. Ouch._

_And yet again, I was free falling._

**Aeri's POV**

_As soon as I saw Harry falling, I leapt into action._

_Darting from tower to tower, I dove after him, somehow catching him in midair. After that, it was simple to land softly at the bottom of the valley._

_"You okay, Potter?" I asked, helping him up._

_"Other then the fact that I was just chased around my school by an angry dragon, fell off a roof, twice, and was nearly killed after a kamikaze attempt to fly through a bridge?" he asked sarcastically. "Yeah, just peachy."_

_"Heh, sorry," I laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck._

_"Why didn't you just step in and, like, kill the dragon?" he asked me, bending over to retrieve his broomstick. "I mean, I know you could have if you wanted to."_

_I flinched. "Number one, I would never want to kill an animal. Even if it wanted to eat me."_

_"Wait, lemme get this straight," Harry said slowly. "You can kill a hundred people in the blink of an eye… and not want to hurt a gigantic fire-breathing, clawed, pissed off dragon that wants to eat your face?"_

_I nodded._

_He sighed. "I don't think I'll ever understand you…__next reason?"_

_"Reason number two: we're only supposed to step in if the champion looks as if he or she is going to die if we don't do anything. A dragon you around the school, sure, you could get eaten. We wouldn't know until we tracked down the dragon. But, get set on fire…"_

_I close my eyes thoughtfully._

_"You're in the hospital for three weeks, you have nasty scars for the rest of your life, but you live."_

_I nodded, opening my eyes._

_Harry was staring at me in shock._

_I sighed. "Ok, here's the deal. Why don't you just go get your egg, and we pretend this never happened, got it?"_

_Harry nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Aeri."_

_I smiled. "No prob."_

_It was only AFTER he flew away that I realized that I was at the bottom of a freaking cliff with absolutely no idea where in the world I was._

_Damn it all._

**Harry's POV**

_As I flew into the arena, the crowd erupted into cheers below me. With no dragon around to try and set me on fire, I dived into the middle of the arena and easily scooped up the dragon's golden egg._

**INVISIBLE~LINE~BREAK**

**Aeri's POV**

**"Neji, Kiba, were you able to track down that weird chakra we saw earlier?" **I asked.

I was sitting at one of the gigantic tables in the Great Hall along with Gaara, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, and Ino, discussing the First Task. It was originally only going to be Neji, Ino and I, but after the Gryffindor Common room got their ear drums decimated by Harry's egg, it seemed best to avoid it for the night.

**"Nope. We tracked him for a while, but then the chakra signal just… vanished" **Kiba said.

**"Yeah. It was like our mystery man vanished into thin air…" **Neji agreed.

I sighed. **"That's alright. Kiba. You're our best tracker. If they slipped past you, there's something fishy going on. We're gonna have to tighten security ten-fold. Someone's trying to sabotage this tournament, and I wanna know who."**

**Yaaay! Reviews!**

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**( ) – thanks! Don't worry, the ninja will have their appearances. Thank you for the feedback!**

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